The Winter Tales
by anGeL Hinaningyou
Summary: [HitsuHina] What happens in soul society after Ichigo & co leave. COMPLETED. Spoilers soul society arch.
1. Reminiscences

**Title**: The Winter Tales

**Summary**: HitsuHina

**Author's Notes**: Spoilers Chapter 100 – 180 Continues from where the manga left off from soul society. This is my first fan fiction ever so any constructive criticism, opinions and after thoughts are very welcome.

**Rating**: T

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any part of Bleach.

* * *

**Part One**

"Where are you going taichou?" asked Matsumoto once she saw her captain retreating from the office in a melancholy yet determined way.

"The bathroom" Hitsugaya answered without bothering to turn. In truth he wasn't actually intending to go to the bathroom at all. Matsumoto's drunken ramblings about Ichimaru Gin had inadvertently caused him to think about Hinamori – something he did quite a lot of already, even before the shinigami days. And as always since the day Hinamori was critically injured and fell into a coma, the sudden but irresistible urge to check up on her – every spare moment he has – arose again.

Matsumoto knew very well that her captain was lying. Though Hitsugaya had perfected the art of concealing emotions, it was crystal clear to all the other twelve captains and vice-captains that Hinamori Momo held an important place in his heart, perhaps the most important. However, she wisely decided to go along with it. Judging on his melancholy behaviour since Hinamori-chan's critical condition it seemed inappropriate to uncover the emotions he so carefully tries to hide.

So when Hitsugaya taichou said he was going to the bathroom she answered in a carefree, drunken voice; "Come back soon!"

* * *

He leaned against the door frame and looked at her. She was still lying on the bed in the same position as she was in a week ago. He slowly walked up to her until he reached the side of the bed and examined her face. Anyone who did not know her condition would have thought she was just sleeping. She had a peaceful expression on her face – one Hitsugaya knew she would not have for a long time when, if, she woke up. 

The events she was put through was just too much for a gentle soul like hers. First it was the death of her much adored captain, then the false revelation that it was her treasured childhood friend who killed him. She had broken down then, emotionally shattered from having to hold the tip of her sword against him. She had looked at him, so lost, confused and betrayed. _I don't know what to do anymore, Shiro-chan_. Her hands had bled from holding her zanpakuto too tightly, physical strength being the only force that kept her sword pointed at him. The final blow came from her captain himself, he had no doubt given her a second of hope, happiness and completeness – no one was killed, her captain was alive, Toshiro did not betray her – only to take it all away in the next when he thrust his sword through her chest.

Hitsugaya clenched his fist. He would never forgive Aizen, nor Ichimaru, but mainly Aizen. _Aizen, I will kill you_. A sickened feeling came over him. He could not protect her, and even more, he was not able to avenge her. His bankai, Daiguren Hyōrinmaru, was stopped even before he was able to release it fully.

He looked at her again and brushed a stray strand of hair off her face.

"Hinamori" he whispered, his voice full of regret and worry.

"Come back to me, bed-wetter Momo"

* * *

Night fell. The winter wind howled and the rain poured down. 

In the recuperation room of the fourth division, Hinamori Momo slowly awakened.

To be continued…


	2. Awakening

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any part of Bleach.

* * *

**Part Two**

Hinamori slowly opened her eyes. _Where am I?_ She wondered. She looked around and observed her surroundings. The furniture, the distinctive medical smell – clearly she was in the recuperation room of the fourth division. But why was she there?

/_Aizen Taichou!_ /

/ _You're Aizen Taichou's murderer! _/

/ _Aizen Taichou…you're alive!_ /

/ _Taichou?...no…_/

Tears flowed from her eyes as the memories came back to her. Aizen taichou was the traitor all along, with Ichimaru taichou. He had played her like a chess piece, manipulated her until she was exactly where he wanted. She felt revived again when she saw that he was alive, only to be stripped off that hope and happiness when she felt him thrust a sword through her chest. He had left her there to die slowly.

Then Hitsugaya kun came. And hell froze over. But it was too late, in the mist of the confusion, anger and disbelief, Hitsugaya's Daiguren Hyourinmaru was defeated, and a critical blow was delivered to him.

Hinamori bolted upright and coughed from the sudden movement. _Shiro-chan_. She pulled the blanket off her to get out of bed. She had to know that Shiro-chan was okay, that he was still alive. _If he's injured then he should still be in one of the recuperation rooms of this building._ But no matter where and how much she searched the rooms she still could not find him. Panic and dread overfilled her. She willed herself to be as calm as possible. _Perhaps he is already healed and moved back to his room._ Feeling a bit calmer now the notion came up but nonetheless worried, she headed towards his sleeping quarters as fast as she could. Tears flowed freely from her as she moved.

_If anything happened to him, I will never forgive you Aizen Taichou._ She thought bitterly. She would never forgive herself either. She had trusted a piece of paper over her childhood friend. The one who protected her no matter what it cost him, ever since before the shinigami days. The one whom she confided in about everything, the one who knew her deepest secret. Hinamori laughed bitterly to herself. _Your admiration for Aizen Taichou had really blinded you, Hinamori, so much to the point you actually allowed yourself to hold your zanpakuto against your most treasured friend._ Guilt overwhelmed her, it was more than she could handle. _If you allowed anything to happen to you because of me, I will never forgive you either._ She thought sadly as she continued moving towards her destination. Him.

* * *

Hitsugaya didn't bother sleeping that night. Instead he sat on the roof and waited for the sun to come up. He thought about many things – the three captain's betrayal, Hinamori, the ryokas, Hinamori, the over protectiveness of Byakuya towards his sister Rukia ever since his implausible confession, and Hinamori. Wondering if she'll wake up and if it'll be soon. He had faith in her – she was strong, physically and emotionally, and wasn't someone to just give up that easily. _She will wake up.  
_

The sky lightened, the darkness mixing with the light of the sun and shone a tint of yellow. Hitsugaya sighed. He was so absorbed in the beauty of the sunrise that he jumped a little when he heard the door of his room being violently pushed open. The door slid aggressively and hit the frame with a bang. He was about to investigate when he was shadowed by a looming presence above him. The next thing he knew was that one side of his face was squashed against the roof tiles and the other side had a sandaled foot on it.

"Hit...Hitsugaya kun!" He heard a very familiar voice say.

* * *

Hinamori arrived at his room and threw his door open. She was actually planning to knock and enter politely but anxiety took the best of her. She looked around. The bed was untouched.

_Don't tell me…Shiro-chan…wait, the roof!_

She leapt up onto the roof…and promptly landed on the object of her mission.

"Hit...Hitsugaya kun!" She exclaimed. Then it dawned onto her, _he's alive! He's really alive!_ With that she removed her foot off his face, kneeled down next to his still fallen form and pulled him into a tight and cuddly hug. Now let's all pretend we are Hinamori at the moment and giving Hitsugaya a big hug XD

She was so grateful, so happy, that her tears flowed like a fountain as she sobbed into him.

Hitsugaya, still a little dazed from being landed on, was in total shock of who he saw hugging and clinging onto him. He quickly pinched himself hard a few times, he wasn't even sure that the pain registering was real. _She's awake._ Still not quite believing, he hugged her back with all his strength. A smile slowly formed on his face as he thought about nuzzling her neck. It was, after all, right there under his nose.

Hinamori felt blissfully happy and content when she felt him hugging her back…until he started to cut off her air circulation. Hitsugaya noticed this when she started coughing and gasping so he very reluctantly loosened his hold of her, but still not letting go of her nonetheless. Eventually Hinamori moved to sit next to him, intertwining her arm with his. They let themselves become enclosed with the feeling of just being in each others presence as the sun rose fully. Hinamori slowly tilted towards him until her head rested on his shoulder. There they sat, silent, content and happy. Hitsugaya was on cloud nine.

* * *

**End of Part 2**


	3. Afterwards

**Part Three**

The sun had risen. Hitsugaya and Hinamori were still sitting on the roof.

"The meeting is starting soon." Stated Hinamori. Hitsugaya gave a nod for acknowledgement but neither of them nudged from their position.

"Gomen ne Hitsugaya kun" Hinamori said quietly, not looking at him. "For turning my sword against you, for not believing you, for not trusting you."

"I forgave you a long time ago. Besides, it wasn't your fault anyway. We were all being played by that bastard Aizen."

"But I should have known…it couldn't have been you." It came out as a whisper; Hitsugaya could sense the tears starting to arise. He let out an intentional frustrated sigh.

"I told you already; don't worry about it…bed wetter Momo." His heart fluttered as he saw a small smile form on her face. It warmed him to know that he could still make her smile.

"We should get going soon, the others would be thrilled to know you're awake." Hinamori nodded but still neither of them budged from their position.

* * *

"Contest huh" Sighed Matsumoto. The meeting had already started and the vice-captain of the first division had begun to give a rundown on what was decided by the captain-commander during the captain meeting.

"As you all know, due to the treacherous events of the three captains, there are three vacant captain seats available. Yamamotogenryusai-taichou has decided that a contest will be held in three months time. Any shinigami, with the approval of their division captain, can challenge the captain of any division to a contest. If the fight is deemed worthy to the judges then they will be added into the consideration list. These contestants will then enter another tournament in which they will fight each other. The top three winners will then undergo the three-day-method of achieving their bankai."

"Three months, three days! Such a short time span!" exclaimed several vice-captains.

"With Aizen and Ichimaru sided with the menos grandes, it is only a matter of time before we need all the defences we have. Naturally the captain seats have to be filled quicker then usual" stated the first division vice-captain. "That is all."

Isane fuku-taichou of the fourth division stepped in to make a statement.

"I know you are all alarmed with the news that nibantai fuku-taichou 2nd division vice captain has just given us but I have something else of alarming nature. This morning, Hinamori fuku-taichou's bed was found empty. Fourth division was dispatched immediately to locate her but have not being successful as of yet." Gasps erupted in the room.

"Hinamori san is awake then?" asked Renji, wide eyed.

"If so, she is probably with taichou then" said Matsumoto, after recovering from the news. Judging from the past events, it was the most probable possibility. Who else would Hinamori-chan want to see more then taichou after she woke up?

As Renji plus some others were about to go looking for her, the subject of the discussion showed up with, as Rangiku suggested, Hitsugaya taichou.

Hinamori bowed, greeted and apologised to everyone. "Sorry for all the trouble."

"What trouble, the important thing is that you're well and awake" responded Renji, followed by noises of agreement from the others who had all gathered around her.

"Glad you'll all okay now" smiled Isane fuku-taichou. "I have to go recruit those looking for you now. Stop by fourth division headquarters later on for a check up." With that the gentle vice-captain left.

"So not fair of you, Hinamori chan, to only think of taichou when you woke up." Rangiku remarked, smiling inwards. Hinamori's face became red as she apologised once again. Hitsugaya glared at his vice-captain…and was promptly ignored.

* * *

The rest of the day was quite uneventful. Hitsugaya was piled up with mountains of work. By the time he finished the last paper he was dead tired. He quickly retired to his room and laid down on his futon without bothering to pull the blankets. He was about to go to sleep when he realised that he was lying on an incredibly wet spot. _Huh?_ It was then he heard someone in his bathroom. Annoyed from being kept from sleep, he flung the bathroom door open and walked straight in…and froze. There, lying in the bath tub was Hinamori, with her head resting on one side of the bath. Luckily bath bubbles covered her up to her lower neck line. And she had obviously being playing with his rubber dog. 

Quickly he turned from her to face the wall.

"Umm, Hinamori" He said loudly. When she didn't awaken he took it upon himself to yell.

"Hinamori!" It worked. The girl was startled from her slumber.

"Ahh...Shiro-cha…Hitsugaya kun!" Hitsugaya immediately left the bathroom, closing the bathroom door behind him with his back still facing her.

She came out of the bathroom a few moments later. Hitsugaya was sitting on the floor, looking at her with a stern expression, silently demanding an explanation. Hinamori tried to hide her giggle. _Shiro-chan, so serious._ She sat down, facing him.

"I…I was bringing you some tea but then I tripped. It fell on your blanket. I got wet trying to clean it so I decided to take a bath. I must have fallen asleep, I guess I was more tired then I realised."

"You guess…" His eyes narrowed for a moment then he gave an exasperated sigh and looked away. _I guess it happened because she was bringing tea for me._ He could never be annoyed at her for very long. He turned to look at her when he heard her giggle.

"I'm all wrinkly!" she said as she smiled, observing her prune like arms and hands then holding them to show him. She then got up and moved purposefully towards his wardrobe.

"What are you doing?" He turned to look at her.

"Replacing your blankets with new ones" she replied as she carried them out of the wardrobe and placed it near his bed. She was about to remove his dirty blankets when all of a sudden she was seized by a fit of coughing. Hitsugaya got up at once and moved towards her.

"I'll do it. Don't strain yourself" He said as he poured her a cup of water.

"Here." She took the cup from him. "What did Unohana san say?"

"She told me that I'm still healing and prohibited me to do anything strenuous for at least two weeks. Mou, I'm going to be bored out of my brains for two weeks of doing nothing."

"Your health is more important than boredom" Hitsugaya scolded, _it's one of the most important things to me_, "besides, I'm sure you're find something to entertain yourself with. As vice-captain I'm sure you still have other duties to tend to."

"Yeah, paperwork." Hinamori yawned.

"It's late, you should get some sleep now" commented Hitsugaya when he saw her yawn. She seemed reluctant to go though.

"I won't be able to sleep. I'll start thinking about things." An idea suddenly arose. "Can I…stay with you tonight? Like I use to do back in the old days?"

Hitsugaya gave another sigh. In truth, he had absolutely nothing against the idea. In fact, he extremely welcomed it. However, appearances had to be kept. He wasn't the master of ice for nothing.

"Okay" She grinned. "Just don't let me wake up on something unpleasant." This time she threw a pillow at him.

Eventually they set up the bed and turned the lights off. Hitsugaya laid there, staring at the ceilings and thinking about the old times when he felt Hinamori snuggle up to him.

"Goodnight Shiro-chan." She murmured.

"Goodnight, bed-wetter Momo." He replied, still staring at the ceiling.

* * *

It was afternoon and Hitsugaya was starving. He hadn't eaten much since Hinamori was critically injured but now that she was better, the hunger hit him at full force. As such, he ordered an enormous meal and after it he sat back, feeling bloated. No sooner had the plates and containers being cleaned, a certain vice captain came in with an incredible large bundle. She smiled her sweet smile and greeted him happily.

"What is that?" He asked pointing to the large bundle covered in cloth.

"Rangiku-chan said that you haven't eaten properly for a while so I made you a large obento" She exclaimed. Hitsugaya paled and stared incredulously at it as she unwrapped the bundle to reveal about two dozen sushi rolls and two medium sized rabbit shaped inari. She then took a chop stick and force fed him one of her sushi rolls. His stomach retaliated but he forced it down anyway.

She looked at him in anticipation, her eyes wide. "How is it?" She asked.

"Good." He said, forcing another piece down his throat to prove it to her. Hinamori seemed oblivious to his situation.

"Try the inari next."

He was going to kill Rangiku afterwards.

* * *

End of Part 3

* * *


	4. Illusions

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any part of Bleach.

Thanks for everyone who has reviewed!

Notes:

**Hou Gyoku** - Mechanism created by Urahara Kisuke that could instantaneously transform a hollow into a shinigami

and vice versa.

**Hajike** - Hinamori's command for her shikai, Tobiume

**Kyouka Suigetsu** - Aizen's shikai (complete hypnosis)

* * *

**Part Four – Illusions**

**

* * *

**

_Captain meetings are so boring_, thought Hitsugaya-taichou. Although the Gotei-13 were three captains short now, the meetings were still long and winded. It was Unohana's turn to give her oral report of the fourth division, then Byakuya's. However, in the middle of seventh division report by Captain Sajin Komamura, the intruder alert went off. A few seconds later, a shinigami suddenly burst through the doors. He was panting but nonetheless bowed.

"Forgive me, intrusion at the fifth division headquarters…"

_Fifth division headquarter! Hinamori!_ Hitsugaya left straight away.

"Aizen-taichou is back and he has erected a large barrier around him and Hinamori fuku-taichou!" At the mention of the traitor's name, all the captains rushed forth towards his supposed destination. Byakuya, on the other hand, was deep in thought. _Why His fuku-taichou? Aizen, what are you planning now?_

_

* * *

_

"Captain…Aizen!" Her voice barely above a whisper from shock. Suddenly anger over took her, this was the man who played her, took her trust and adoration and then blatantly turned around and betrayed her. Not only had he hurt her, he had also hurt Hitsugaya. For that, she will never forgive him. Her hands fell on the tilt of her zanpakuto instinctively and she pulled it out in one violent wrench.

"I trusted you and looked up to you - you were like a father to me. And then you betrayed me." She raised her sword and positioned herself for her shikai, tobiume. "For what you did to the Gotei-13, to Hitsugaya-kun and to me, I will never forgive you. HAJIKE!"

"STOP HINAMORI!" yelled Hitsugaya. "Mask of spirit and fortitude, all Creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Truth and Temperance, unleash upon this wall of dreams." He chanted furiously. "Way of dissolution, number 62, DISPEL!"

The barrier dissolved and Hitsugaya rushed in and pushed Hinamori out of the way. He was just in time. Aizen had suddenly released an attack aimed at Hinamori which had pierced Hitsugaya on the arm when he intervened. Hinamori's eyes widened at the wound. "Hitsugaya kun!"

By this time, most of the captains and vice-captains had gathered around.

"You shouldn't have returned Aizen, your time is now up" said Master Yamamotogenryusai.

Aizen smiled at this.

"Do you really believe that I will risk everything just for this slip of a girl." He ran a hand through his hair. "If so, you are sadly mistaken."

He turned to Hinamori, "I always knew you were useful for something. You made an excellent diversion Hinamori-san. Well done." At that Hinamori ran forward and took a slash at Aizen.

"No!" yelled Hitsugaya, among some other shinigamis. However, the sword sliced straight through Aizen, as if he was an apparition.

"Damn! We were fooled by his Kyouka Suigetsu! " cried Soi Fong.

"This is troubling, we do not know his real intent." Master Yamamotogenryusai remarked. "Everyone, return to your stations at once!"

"Unohana-taichou, wait! Hitsugaya kun is hurt!" exclaimed Hinamori.

"Tell everyone to be at their stations, Isane, I will be there shortly after attending Hitsugaya-taichou" instructed Unohana to her vice captain.

* * *

_I wonder what Ichigo and the others are doing now._ Thought Rukia as she sat on the bridge leading to the thirteenth division headquarters. She looked at the sky. _It's peculiar that we're so far apart even though we're under the same sky._ She was so into her thoughts that she did not see someone behind her until he spoke. 

"Hello Rukia, It's been a long time." Rukia's head spun around to look at the speaker. Her face paled when she saw who it was.

"Aizen." She gasped.

"Too bad you weren't executed, things would be a hundred times easier for me." Aizen sighed. "But since I was forced to use the second method of extracting the Hou Gyoku…" He sighed again, but this time a smile slowly formed on his face. "Oh well, this will take longer but I guess it'd have to do." He looked at her, "We have to go now, it seems that my illusion has just been discovered."

The next thing Rukia realised was that Aizen was behind her, then there was darkness.

* * *

"Things are so simple these days, I feel like there's no challenge in the world anymore" remarked Aizen as he swung the now unconscious Rukia over her shoulders. He was about to return to the kingdom of hollows when he sensed someone behind him. 

"Looks like some people are very reluctant to let you go, Kuchiki Rukia. Boy, you are troublesome. Don't you agree? " he asked, without facing the person whom he was speaking to, "Kuchiki Byakuya-sama."

"Release her." Byakuya demanded. His face remained emotionless but his eyes held contempt, fury and … was that a trace of worry?

"You have grown soft, captain of the sixth division." Byakuya continued to glare at him.

"May I ask, by the way, what you are staring so intently at?" Aizen asked, his voice coated with travesty. The image of Aizen holding Rukia suddenly vanished, only a voice seem to remain.

"You forget, Byakuya-sama, I am a master of illusions." Soon the laughter faded as well.

_Damn it!_ Byakuya stared into the sky where the voice disappeared, his face still expressionless. _Aizen you surreptitious bastard._ His eyes narrowed. _Rukia._

_

* * *

_

"Does your arm still hurt?" asked Hinamori. Hitsugaya grunted.

"This is nothing to me." He retorted, his voice coming out harsher then he wished it.

"Are you mad at me?" _Mad? Of course I'm mad._ She had put herself in unnecessary danger. As a master of kidou arts, dissipating that barrier would have been nothing to her. Instead, she had intentionally left the barrier to fight Aizen herself.

"You shouldn't have tried to fight Aizen yourself." Hinamori was taken aback, so he _was_ mad at her. Despite the gratification she felt for him for protecting her, again, she felt the low drum of anger building up in her.

"Considering the situation, I didn't exactly have a choice did I?" She argued.

"You could have used the dissolution spell to dispel the barrier!"

"Aizen was right there! I was angry, I wanted to get him back…hell, I wanted to kill him!"

"He would have killed you in an instant!"

"Well, thank you, now I know how much faith you have in me." Hinamori retorted sarcastically.

"You know what I mean, he's defeated many captains before."

"Yeah, including you!" Hinamori's hands snapped back to cover her mouth. Looking at his expression right now, she would give anything to take that back. He looked so…defeated.

"I didn't mean…that." Hitsugaya scoffed.

"Why, it's true." He looked away. "I'm kinda tired now, I'm going to have a rest." He said as he stood up, walking in the direction of his room.

"Shiro-chan…" Hinamori tried.

"It's Hitsugaya-taichou." He reminded her coldly. Hinamori was on the verge of tears.

"Now if you don't mind, I will be retiring to my quarters, Hinamori fuku-taichou." With that he stepped out of the room, sliding the door shut behind him.

* * *

"What did you say, Byakuya?" asked Master Yamamotogenryusai at the emergency captain meeting. 

"A request for the ban of Urahara Kisuke to be temporarily lifted. He would prove to be an enormous advantage, being the one who created the Hou Gyoku" repeated Byakuya. He was getting tired of this repetitive process, he sole concern was only Rukia at this moment, though he showed it to no one.

"Sir, there has also been reports of hollows such as Hamen reappearing frequently in the living world. This is conceivably a result of Aizen attempting to activate the Hou Gyoku? Perhaps lifting the ban and bringing Urahara Kisuke here would be a good idea" said Ukitake. A few other captains nodded in agreement.

"So be it then. Soi Fong, remove the ban on Urahara Kisuke. Ukitake, bring Urahara Kisuke back with you" commanded Master Yamamotogenryusai.

"You say there has been more hollows in the living world?" The captains nodded in confirmation.

"We need to lay out a tougher defence system there. Kenpachi, I want your division to devise a defence layout for the living world. The ryokas are helping still you say? Good, we need as much help on this as we can. Keep them in your plans. You will also need to send someone over there to inform them of what is happening and ask them for their further cooperation." Master Yamamotogenryusai sighed then stated firmly,

"this is war."

* * *

END OF PART FOUR

* * *

_To be continued…_


	5. Confessions

**Part Five – Confessions**

Thanks again for the reviews!

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any part of Bleach.

* * *

PART FIVE

* * *

Matsumoto sighed in frustration. _Taichou has been grumpier than usual_ she thought. Ever since yesterday he had been brooding severely and was either found in the office burying himself in endless piles of work or training his division ten times harder then usual. When she had asked him what was wrong, he had grunted in reply. _I bet it has something to do with Hinamori chan, it always has something to do with her._ The vice-captain got up, _I think it's time I pay her a little visit._

On the way there though she met Zaraki Kenpachi.

"Yo, Matsumoto san. Where is your captain, I would like a word with him."

"Captain is at the tenth division training centre at the moment, Kenpachi Taichou. Shall I accompany you there?"

"That would be great."

They arrived at the centre and whisked Hitsugaya out into his office.

"As you know, Toshiro, I have been asked to design some defence layouts for the living world and here in soul society. However, I cannot send many of my people out to the living world as they are mostly part of Seireitai's inner defence system."

_Yeah right, you made it that way so you wouldn't have to leave Seireitai._ Hitsugaya thought grimly, he had a bad feeling where this was heading.

"You have already been informed of the hollows attacking Ichigo and his friends in the living world so we need to send more shinigamis there to help" continued Zaraki.

"And you want me to send people from my squad."

"There is no need for that, we have already informed the fifth squad that their vice-captain will select four others to enter the living world with her."

"What! But you can't! It's against the rules to send a group of five people or more unaccompanied by a captain to a war zone. And Master Yamamoto has declared war. If you haven't noticed, the fifth division lacks a captain! Furthermore…" _Whoa, Matsumoto was very right – Hitsugaya is hell passionate when it comes to Hinamori-fukutaichou._ Zaraki thought as he listened to Hitsugaya ramble on, though rather heatedly, about everything that was wrong with this decision.

Zaraki grew impatient and put a hand towards him to stop his incessant ramblings. "Let me finish, Toshiro. As a result of everything you just said, Master Yamamoto has decided that you shall accompany them."

"But I'm not their captain."

"If you don't want to…"

"I will go." Hitsugaya said firmly, crossing his arms.

"Alright, that being settled, you and the other five will leave tomorrow. You will be accompanied by Ukitake, Shunsui and Renji." Zaraki stated. This time it was Matsumoto who intervened.

"If two other captains are going, then why does captain have to go?" She asked, ignoring the icy glare from said captain.

"Ukitake and Shunsui are on another mission – to bring back Urahara Kisuke. Renji has the job of informing Ichigo about current details. Hitsugaya's group has the responsibility of exterminating hollows around the area. By the way, you should inform Hinamori-san that you are going with her. She was told that a captain was going to accompany her but was not told whom." With that he left the room.

"Matsumoto."

"Yes captain?"

"Go and tell Hinamori what is happening" commanded Hitsugaya, ignoring the odd looks that Matsumoto was giving him.

"Don't you want to do that yourself captain?"

"Do I look like I have that much time? I have paperwork to do!"

"…"

"Well, aren't you going?"

"You finished today's paperwork already. Besides, taichou, since you will be working with her tomorrow, maybe you should consider making up with her. Today perhaps." Hitsugaya glared at her. _ Matsumoto sure does take liberties with me, _he thought grimly.

"What makes you think that something is wrong? I am simply too busy" he said, refusing to admit the truth of the situation. Matsumoto scoffed.

"Oh please, if you two don't work it out soon, everyone will be bogged down by this oppressive atmosphere." She was met with a death glare which consequently made her decide that she rather liked her life and did not want to lose it over something so fickle. She let out an exasperated sigh.

"Hai, hai taichou. I'm on my way." She said, getting off her beloved couch and walking towards the door.

"Good," mumbled Hitsugaya, trying hard not to find reason in her words. He _is_ going to have to work with her tomorrow. He brooded even more and slumped into his chair, a dark oppressive cloud lingering above him.

* * *

Matsumoto sighed as she stood outside of Momo-chan's room. She knocked gently. 

"Momo-chan, can I come in? It's Rangiku."

"Of course" replied Hinamori. She was surprised to hear a knock on her door so late in the evening. Her heart had leapt at the prospect of the visitor being Hitsugaya but sank again when she heard it was his vice-captain instead. She moved to greet her.

Rangiku came in and sat facing her on the tatami mat.

"Rangiku-chan, is something wrong?" She asked, a sudden fear grasping her with the possibility that something bad may have happened in the tenth division.

"Nah, I just came to tell you something." Rangiku said quickly when she had noticed that Hinamori had suddenly tensed up.

Hinamori relaxed. Relief washing over her. "What did you want to tell me?"

"My captain was ordered to accompany you and the others to the living world tomorrow."

"Ordered, huh." Hinamori repeated sadly, she looked down onto the floor and toyed at it. Rangiku eyed her suspiciously.

"Exactly what happened between you guys?" She asked, genuinely curious. It wasn't like them two to have fights.

"We had an argument."

"Yes, everyone who has been around you two have gathered that much."

"He was mad at me for trying to fight Aizen without dissipating the barrier first. He said I was "putting myself in unnecessary danger." I got mad at him, even though I knew he was just worried." She fell silent. Rangiku could see the tears forming at her eyes. It was never clear to Rangiku and many other shinigamis how such an emotionally fragile girl could become vice-captain.

"But he wouldn't be avoiding you like this for that tiny thing." _Something else must have been said to hurt Taichou's feelings_, she thought, _hell, she had done worse to him and he had forgiven her instantly._

"I reminded him that he was one of the many captains Aizen defeated so he had no right telling me what to do. Now he's so cold to me." At this she burst out into tears.

_Ah. _Rangiku understood now. _She had hurt his pride._ Hitsugaya's sole obsession was to see to it that Hinamori did not come to any harm and that he would always be there to protect her even in the tiniest measurement of danger. But when Aizen had defeated him, he had felt that he could not live up to this expectation and it pained him immensely. Nonetheless, he had maintained his stoic expression and acted with indifference. He could have cared less if others rebuked him. Coming from Hinamori, though, was an entirely different story.

"I don't think taichou is mad at you, Momo-chan." She said. Hinamori rubbed her eyes and looked at her.

"How come? Haven't you seen the way he's been acting towards me?"

"I think he is mad at himself. He feels unworthy to talk to you." Hinamori's eyes widened.

"What! Why?" _Momo chan can be quite dense when it comes to taichou._ Thought Rangiku as she looked at her.

"Because he couldn't protect you. He had failed, and you nearly died because of it…or so he feels."

"But it wasn't his fault, he was fighting Aizen! Even Kuchiki-taichou was hurt! He can't possibly blame himself, that's ridiculous. Everybody knows he's strong, he's a prodigal genius for heavens sake." Hinamori said forcefully, as though Matsumoto had just accused Hitsugaya of being weak.

"Perhaps you should say that to the captain, Momo-chan." She got up.

"It's getting really late and I'm beat. I'm going to go to bed."

"Thank you, Rangiku-san, for coming." Rangiku waved her hand dismissively as she was about to open the door. Then she paused and turned around to face Hinamori.

"Hinamori-chan, do you like captain? I mean it as in a more-than-a-friend sort of way?" When Hinamori remained silent and blushed furiously instead, Rangiku took it as a 'yes'. She looked back at the door and said "captain likes you too." With that she stepped out of the room and closed the door, leaving a stunned Hinamori behind.

* * *

Hitsugaya was dead tired. His mental toil had impinged on him physically but somehow it seemed apparent to him that he wouldn't be sleeping tonight. _Why did I have to agree so quickly to go with her?_ He growled inwardly, she would probably be safer with another captain anyway. He blamed his damned protective instinct when it came to her. 

He was about to put out his last two lamps when he heard a gentle knocking at his door. His heart picked up its beat by ten when he realised who it was. _Stay calm_ He willed himself, _she's probably here about tomorrow. Probably here to tell me that I have no right to protect her._ He thought grimly. He was already sitting on the floor so he simply repositioned himself to face the door.

"Calm in" He knocked himself mentally on the head.

"I mean, come in." When Hinamori came in, she seemed oblivious to his mistake. _Thank kami-sama._ He thought gratefully. She sat facing him.

"Rangiku-san informed me of what was happening tomorrow." He nodded then looked away, his arms folded protectively in front of his chest.

There was a moment of awkward silence.

"She…She also told me other…things." At this Hitsugaya jerked his head back towards her. He gave her his full attention now and was looking at her intently.

"Such as?" _Don't make me come after you, Rangiku._

"I know you reprimand yourself for not being able to protect me from Aizen. You shouldn't. No one could have protected me from him, we were all deceived by him. You couldn't have known."

"…" Hitsugaya was staring at the floor as if it was the most intriguing thing to him now.

"And when they did, no one defeated him, Shiro-chan, _no one_" stressed Hinamori, moving closer towards him in her desperation to get through to him.

"Besides, it makes no difference to me. You'll always be Shiro-chan to me. The person I grew up with, make jokes with, and confide in, " a wide smile formed on her face, "the person who loved singing random tunes whilst playing rubber dog bath games, the one who swore not to enter this 'stupid shinigami school' and then became captain." She received a huge glare from him but behind his glare she could see him softening, his resolve had begun to crumble.

"Thank you." She said after a moment. Hitsugaya had turned the slightest shade of pink. Hinamori laughed, then she thought of the question she wanted to ask the most.

"Rangiku also told me one more thing." She said, turning a slight shade of pink herself.

_Oh man! How come every time a woman opens her mouth a waterfall of varying information comes out. That Rangiku._ He cleared his throat softly.

"What else did she tell you?" He asked, looking only half interested, though all his five senses were on full alert. _That baka vice-captain of mine had better not have said anything absurd._

Hinamori looked him in the eye.

"She said you like me…more than a friend."

"Wh…WHAT?" Hinamori felt deflated, so he doesn't like her that way after all. However, one look at his face brought up suspicions. Hitsugaya was so red, his head looked like a giant tomato. She stifled a laugh despite the seriousness of the situation.

On the other end, Hitsugaya was completely stunned. Of course he liked her but there was no way in a million years that he would admit it. Unless she felt the same way of course. _Baka, Hinamori only thinks of you as her childhood friend. She said so herself didn't she, "you'll always be Shiro-chan to me."_ He looked at her, she was so pink that he thought she looked like a beetroot. _If she's pink then I must look like a giant tomato._ He was so embarrassed that he turned around so that his back was facing her, still sitting with his arms crossed protectively at his chest.

"Is it true?" She asked, hope and anticipation driving her crazy.

_This has got to be the most embarrassing thing I'll ever have to do, well, besides proposing that is. Hitsugaya Toshiro! What is wrong with you? Well luckily proposing is a long, long time away…Stop it!_

"Yes" he replied, hesitantly but nonetheless firmly. "But that doesn't have to change anything between us. We can still be really good friends. I don't want to put any pressure on you or anything…"

As Hitsugaya rambled on, Hinamori was staring happily at him. _He likes me!_ She thought ecstatically, not hearing a word of what Hitsugaya was rambling on about. She snapped out of her reverie and decided to take action.

Hitsugaya, on the other hand, was still rambling on incessantly when Hinamori leapt and backed hugged him, swinging her arms around his neck. She pecked the now shocked silent Hitsugaya on the cheek.

"Watashi mo suki (I like you too)" she murmured happily into him. His fingers automatically moved to retrace the area she had kissed him. Slowly, he took one of her hands and directed her to move in front of him.

"What did you say? Did you just say…" He asked, eyes wide. He wanted to believe what he knew he heard her say a moment ago again, he wanted to be absolutely sure.

"I said I like you too." They stared at each other for a moment. Hitsugaya felt deliriously happy. He pulled her into him and hugged her tight, both laughing as they held each other.

That night Shiro-chan and Momo cuddled up and went to sleep together as they used to back in the Rukongai days, but instead of just friends, they went to sleep as a couple. That night, Hitsugaya slept more peacefully then he had ever done since coming to the academy.

* * *

End of Part Five

* * *

Hope you guys enjoyed that. Sorry it's a bit long but I got carried away. 

**Please review.** Thanks again for those who reviewed! XD


	6. The Living World

**Part 6 – The Living World**

**Author's Notes:** I had to add an extra chapter in to tell a recount of what happened in the living world before the Soul Society herd comes hence it's a bit off the HitsuHina track (they are still in it though, towards the end.) This chapter therefore comes before the chapter that was supposed to be part 6 (reunion). I hope you readers don't mind **Warning**: I'm absolutely terrible at writing stories set in the modern world. :( Oh, also, this intermixes with my other story, "The Other Side".

**SPOILERS** up to manga chapter 188

**Hou Gyoku – **Mechanism that could instantly transform a hollow into a shinigami and vv.

**Arankaru** – fractured mask (in Bleach, a type of Hollow)

**Vaizards** – masked army

/ … / signifies a recount in between

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any part of Bleach.

* * *

PART SIX

* * *

There has never been as many people in the Kurosaki living room as there was now. 

Sitting on the couch was Inoue, Chad and Tatsuki. The very latter had discovered her ability to see spirits during one of Ichigo's 'bathroom' sprints where she inadvertently saw him as a death god when she looked out the window.

Sitting in the loveseat adjacent to them was Urahara Kisuke and Isshin Kurosaki. Just a day prior to this odd meeting, the entire Kurosaki children discovered that their father was a shinigami of captain level. Though the entire family was shocked at this revelation, it was safe to say that Ichigo was by far the most flabbergasted out of the lot. The reason for this? While the other Kurosaki children found out through words, Ichigo had found out through sight.

/ Ichigo stood there in shock, a hollow bigger then the Menos Grande stood there. It was apparently facing someone but Ichigo couldn't see who, he could only make out that he was a shinigami. _Is it the replacement shinigami? Zennosuke?_ He thought, _Can't be, the build is completely different._

"NOOB!" he heard the shinigami yell out. There was silence after that. Then in a flash the enormous hollow split in half and dissipated. _What the!_ _This guy just eradicated a menos grande-like hollow with a single slash!_ Ichigo froze even further when he saw who the shinigami was.

"Otou…Otousan!" He cried in disbelief.

"Yo! I-chi-go." Greeted Isshin Kurosaki casually. He knew it would come to this eventually but he didn't think it would be this soon. Isshin was greeted by the infamous Kurosaki jump kick delivered by his extremely pissed off son.

"What dya mean, "yo?" Ichigo stared intensely at his father's fallen form.

"Whaa, delivered just like a true Kurosaki. I have now taught you everything…"

"Apparently not." Ichigo retorted, eyes twitching uncontrollably. Isshin sat up and sighed. _This is going to be a long day_ he thought, bringing his hands up to rub the back of his head. /

Isshin was back in his normal clothes, his shinigami other reverted for now. Ichigo, who was sitting on the couch facing him, was glaring at him non-stop. He had been so far unsuccessful in getting his father to explain why he was a shinigami. Whenever he had asked, Isshin had just grinned his goofy smile and said "that is a story for another time." He had scowled in response. However, Ichigo had secretly suspected that his father turning from a shinigami to human had something to do with Urahara Kisuke. _Everything that goes horribly wrong always happens to be connected to that guy._ Thought Ichigo, continuing to stare at his shinigami father though sparing some glances to the others around him now and then.

Standing behind him was Ishida and his father, Ryuuken. Although they had seem to meet at an accepted agreement, the air surrounding them when they were together was still dark and oppressive.

/ "What did you say? You can…" Ishida Quincy counter asked, his voice barely above a whisper. He was walking home from Ichigo's after repairing the plush toy for the nth time when an enormous hollow entered through the sky, much like the menos grandes did. It had pursued him and, being powerless and low from spiritual energy, he had ran from it. He was desperate, at lost for an idea or an escape when all of a sudden a blue flash slashed the hollow, dismembering it into pieces before disintegrating. Ishida looked towards the direction where the flash originated from and saw, to his disbelief, his father, Ryuuken.

"There is one more ability in which you have not learnt. As the last Quincy, you have the right to learn it." Ryuuken took out an object which Ishida recognised as the Cross of the Quincy.

"With this, I can restore the power you have lost and subsequently further empower you. However there is one condition."

"What condition?"

"You must forsake all ties with the shinigami." Ryuuken commanded impassively.

Ishida's mind was in turmoil. _Forsake all ties with Ichigo?_ A few weeks ago it would have meant nothing to him. He hated all shinigami after all. But now…

"What is your answer?" Ishida looked up at his father, determination on his face.

"No." He replied firmly.

"No, that is your decision then?" When Ishida remained silent, Ryuuken continued.

"So be it then. You are a disgrace to the Quincy, you do not deserve the name as The Last. If you can not accept my condition, then I shall not teach you the last technique." He looked at Ishida once more, then seeing as there was no reaction, turned to leave.

"Wait, chichiue." Ryuuken turned back to face his son.

"You changed your mind?" he asked, emotionally.

"No."

"Then I shall have nothing to say to you." He turned to leave again when he was interrupted once more.

"You will teach me the last technique."

"Oh? Enlighten me."

"Right now, the shinigami and I share a common purpose. That is to protect others from hollows." Ryuuken looked unmoved. Ishida let out an exasperated sigh.

"Didn't you see the hollows? Can't you see that the ones coming now are bigger and stronger? You need to teach me so I can defend others from the hollows! With all these hollows, there's something really wrong. Don't let your pride be in the way of saving others, it is not the way of the Quincy."

At that moment, about a dozen hollows appeared. Ryuuken seemed unmoved, as though he had sensed them long before they arrived. Ishida, on the other hand, was looking around bewilded. _I can't believe my spiritual abilities had been lowered to the state where I cannot even sense so many hollows!_

The hollows surrounded them. In one flash, Ryuuken had eliminated all six on his side. He turned back to watch his son fight the other six.

Ishida was desperate. He had no weapon to fight them with and he could not run. He would not run, not in front of his father. Three of the hollows ran and leapt into the air, Ishida managed to dodge, but he was not quick enough. The claws of one of the hollows had successfully slashed all along his left arm. _Great, now I can only use my right arm to defend myself._ He looked up just in time to see the same three hollows leap up into the air. They seemed to form a triangle around him, there was no where to escape. He closed his eyes and anticipated his death. It never came.

The next time he opened his eyes, all remaining hollows were gone. Eradicated, no doubt, by his father. He slumped onto the ground and looked up at his father who was now standing in front of him.

"So be it. I shall teach you the last technique. If you are going to defend someone, let it be yourself." /

Ishida had not yet mastered the last technique. He was in the middle of training when a note about an emergency meeting at Ichigo's house had come to him from Inoue. It had took a lot of arguing and persuading to get Ryuuken to come. Ishida gave his father a sidelong glance then returned his glaze to Karin and Jinta, who were currently busy beating each other up.

Another person who was watching the two fireballs with an amused expression was Hirako, a 'new student' of Karakura High who is actually from the masked army, vaizard. The Vaizards had detected something wrong and so have sent Hirako as a representative of their kind. His glaze was temporarily diverted when a certain yellow teddy bear ran across, arms up and screaming for his life. He was being chased by two girls.

_What have I done to ever deserve this mistreatment? Am I not cute?_ Cried Kon inwardly as he ran as fast as he could from Yuzu and Ururu.

"Matte! Kon!" cried Yuzu as she continued to chase him, a dress in one hand, and some pink and red ribbons in the other. Yoruichi watched them warily, a sweat drop slid down the side of her face.

"Everybody, if I could have your attention please" said Urahara. He repeated a few times to no avail until finally Ichigo got fed up.

"EVERYBODY BE QUIET AND LISTEN!" Yelled Ichigo, the noise and all the movement was making him nauseous. At once everyone stopped and looked at Ichigo, who gestured over to Urahara before taking a seat again.

"Umm, thank you Ichigo. I have called this meeting today to call attention to some important points. As you have realised, there has been a greater number of hollows these few days. Recently Isshin face an Arankaru."

"An Arankaru? What exactly is that?" asked Inoue.

"It's a type of fractured-mask hollow. This particular hollow Isshin fought with was altered. We were thinking that Aizen somehow created a normal hollow into the Arankaru using the Hyougoku and sent him down as an experiment."

"Aizen...the captain who betrayed the Gotei-13? What is the meaning of sending down an Arankaru?"

"Think, if he turns a hollow into an Arankaru by using Hyougoku's full power, then what would be the product? The Hyougoku is extremely powerful, it will create an extremely powerful – near unbeatable as a matter of fact, Arankaru. We are guessing that he is planning to unleash his final creation into the world along with an army of Meno Grandes. It would be the end of the world." Gasps and murmurs broke out throughout the room.

"So what are we going to do about it?" asked Ichigo, they were already fighting as much as they can.

"I don't know." Urahara answered, bring his fan up to cover his mouth. Everyone looked at him dubiously. Isshin moved to speak.

"But in the meantime we have to train, that we have made plans for."

"Yes, yes." Backed Kisuke, moving the fan from his face. "Yuzu, Karin, Jinta and Ururu."

The four stood up and looked at Urahara. "Hai?"

"You will undergo an extensive training program lead by Isshin."

"Right, right, daddy's going to be teaching you two." He said idiotically, smacking his lips together while leaning down to speak to them. "Don't worry, now I can…" SMACK!

"Urusai" replied Karin, crossing her arms and turning away from him. Tears were streaming comically down Isshin's foot marked face. "This is what I get from being such a good father…"

"Father and I will continue to train." Said Ishida quickly, glancing at his father nervously. Hell would have broken out if Urahara, a shinigami, former or not, had given Ishida Ryuuken of the Quincy an order.

"Good, good."

"Ichigo, you will continue fighting me. I will teach you more techniques as well as well as help you perfect your bankai." Ichigo nodded.

"What should Chad and I do?" asked Inoue.

"You will be with me." Said Yoruichi, "I want to see if there are other levels of your powers."

_So we have told the children, Ichigo and his friends what to do. Ishida has informed us of their plans. That leaves…_Urahara turned to face Hirako, _the vaizard._ Hirako straightened up in his seat when he saw Urahara approaching him. His presence loomed over him. He prepared himself for his mission.

"You, Hirako-san, will do…" said Urahara

"Yes, sir?" Urahara smiled at the seriousness in his voice.

"…whatever you Vaizards do." Hirako promptly fell of his chair.

"Hai." He answered as he got back on.

With that, Urahara walked into the centre of the room again.

"So, everyone has something to do. We will begin this training tomorrow. There is no time to waste."

* * *

The night fell as the full moon rose, throwing everything it touched into a bluish hue. 

In the darkness, six figures appeared on the rooftop opposite the Kurosaki clinic.

"You know your positions?" It was more of a statement then a question asked by the leader, a short figure with unique hair. The moon seemed just behind him.

"Yes, Captain Hitsugaya." Four replied.

"Then go." He commanded. They left at once, leaving the captain and a vice-captain behind. They jumped and landed beneath a streetlight.

Hinamori sighed. "Why are we going to see the ryokas again? That's Renji's job."

"Because you're not well. You haven't fully recovered from the injuries…" he was cut off.

"Yes I am!" said Hinamori indignantly.

"No you're not, I heard you cough this morning."

"I choked on tea!"

"See." Hinamori let out an exasperated sigh. No, she could not 'see' his point but she gave up trying to argue with him anyway.

"You need a place to rest occasionally, and this seems the safest place to do so. Let's go."

"Wait, it's really cold." Hinamori said as she took out a woollen scarf. It was baby blue which faded to white towards the ends.

"You already have a scarf on. Do you really need two?" He said, looking at the scarf that she was wearing. It looked identical to the one she was wearing, except hers was baby pink. It had her name (mostly in Kanji) embroidered on one of the ends in the opposite gradient.

"It's not for me, silly." She said adoringly as she wrapped the scarf around his neck, indeed, the scarf had his name embroidered on it too. Nonetheless, Hitsugaya resisted.

"I can handle the cold." He said as he tried to take it off.

"Hitsugaya Toshiro", she said sternly. He looked at her, and then took his hands off the scarf.

"…H…Hai" He replied. Judging from the tone of her voice and the facial expression she just gave him, he had decided that it might not be a good idea to disobey. Instead, he waited for her to readjust his scarf before he asked his next question.

"Where did you get a scarf with my name on?"

"I made it. Do you like it?" She asked, staring at him for an answer.

He was touched, and he absolutely loved it. He would love anything that came from her, though he would rarely admit it.

"Yeah. It's nice." He said looking to one side, trying to sound indifferent. She smiled and clung onto his arm.

He let out a sigh of relief. _Hitsugaya Toshiro, _he said to himself, _you just learnt an important lesson today:_ _Accept everything and anything your girlfriend shoves at you and don't utter a single complaint. Just accept it gracefully and express your never ending gratitude. Or else…_

_

* * *

_

_I'm so exhausted!_ Thought Ichigo as he landed on his bed. Kon had followed him in and was still rambling incessantly about how he was mistreated. Ichigo spared him a glance and felt one eye twitch. Kon was dressed in a pink tutu, complete with a pink ribbon and dancing shoes. Ballerina Kon. He looked incredibly horrible but somewhat not completely out of place…

After letting out a bout of laughter, Ichigo got up to close the door behind Kon when suddenly a hand reached out to stop him. Ichigo stared at the intruder, his eyes widened.

"Yo, Ichigo." Said Renji, sounding as though it was the most natural thing in the world for him to be barging into Ichigo's room.

* * *

"And after that…hic…Rukia-san…hic…beat him up for criticising her…hic…artwork." Said Urahara, taking in another shot of sake. 

HAHAHAHA

"So what…hic…happened…hic…after that?" asked Shunsui, holding his cup out for another refill.

"That sounds like…hic…my Rukia-chan…hic." Commented Ukitake proudly, finishing his remainding sake.

HAHAHAHA…haa…ha

zzZZZZ

* * *

End of Part Six

* * *

**Note:** I am not planning to write on how Ichigo and the others get stronger through training as that is too off HitsuHina (sort of like this chapter), however, you will know what they learnt in the final showdown. 

The next chapter will have more HitsuHina in it.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Please read and review. Thanks for those who reviewed again. :)


	7. Reunion

**

* * *

**

PART 7: REUNION 

**

* * *

**

**Notes:**

**.  
Shinketsu – **Pure blood

**Daikousyou – **Shinigami permit

**Hou Gyoku – **Mechanism that could instantly transform a hollow into a shinigami and vv.

**Bou Heki - **Shield/barrier around the Hou Gyoku

**Konpaku** – 'Container' for the Hou Gyoku (i.e. Rukia)

**Arankaru** – fractured mask (in Bleach, a type of Hollow)

**Vaizards** – masked army

Thanks to everyone who reviewed again! Hands out Bleach character-shaped cookies

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any part of Bleach, Kubo Tite and co. does.

* * *

PART SEVEN

* * *

.

"…Renji!" exclaimed Ichigo, literally jumping into the air from shock. Renji looked at him, genuinely amused. After a moment, he collected himself and spoke.

"What the hell are you doing here…in my room!" Renji scratched his head, hesitant to tell him that Rukia had just been kidnapped by Aizen and that they had no idea what he wants with her. After all the effort Ichigo had put in to rescue her… Truthfully, considering the situation, he wouldn't be surprised to see Ichigo transforming into a volcano and erupting mounds of burning lava. Hell, he did when Kuchiki-taichou told him what happened. He had spit fire on everything and anything that he could remotely blame…except Kuchiki-taichou of course. One, he still valued his life very much. Two, he wasn't someone who would kick someone while they were down, and Kuchiki taichou was definitely reprimanding his inner self for allowing his sister to be kidnapped right in front of his very eyes. Literally. Renji let out a loud sigh, then took a deep breath and…

"Oi, are you having an asthma attack or what? Stop breathing like that! It's annoying." After giving Ichigo a death glare, Renji prepared himself to say those haunted words. He took a deep, deep breath then said:

"Aizen-used-Hinamori-fukutaichou-to-cause-a-diversion-so-that-he-could-kidnap-Rukia-for-some-unknown-reason-and-the-diversion-worked-and-now-Aizen-has-got-her." He said, staring at the floor while he spoke without a single break in the sentence, then he slowly looked back at him. Ichigo seemed a bit confused and started repeating his words.

"Aizen used a vice captain to cause a diversion so that he could kidnap Rukia…unknown reason…diversion…worked…now…Aizen has got her." The meaning of the words slowly dawned on him as his face slowly changed from contemplative and confused to shocked and downright _furious_. He walked vehemently up to Renji and pulled him towards him forcefully by the collar.

"WHAT! WHAT DID YOU SAY! RUKIA GOT KIDNAPPED BY AIZEN! RIGHT IN SEIREITAI WHERE THE GOTEI 13 LIVE, WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING? WHAT THE HELL WERE ANY OF YOU DOING?" He screeched at Renji, who was becoming increasingly deaf seeing as he was only about fifteen centimetres short from Ichigo's face.

"Aizen is a master of illusions, Kurosaki-kun. No one knew what had happened until it was too late." Said a small voice behind Ichigo. Renji took this moment of distraction to grab Ichigo's wrist and wrenched it away from him, successfully managing to cause Ichigo to release his death-like grip. Ichigo spun around to see who had spoken. Apparently while he was yelling, two shinigamis had entered through his window. One of them was a captain and another was a vice-captain.

"Who the hell are you two?" He asked harshly, still angry from the news.

"Hitsugaya-taichou, Hinamori-san, what are you doing here?" answered Renji for Ichigo as he greeted them.

"A captain huh, what the hell were you doing when Rukia was kidnapped?" snapped Ichigo. Hitsugaya narrowed his eyes. Renji noticed this and said carefully, as to not fuel either of the two's anger or annoyance:

"Hitsugaya-taichou rushed to help Hinamori-san, as did most of the other captains. I told you already, Aizen was using Hinamori as a diversion. Everyone was fooled."

"What makes her so important that the entire Gotei-13 had to rush to her aid." Ichigo retorted. At the look on Hitsugaya's face, everyone became silent. Even Ichigo had winced when he looked at him.

"Just because you weren't there to save _your _girlfriend, lay off_ mine_." He said coldly, the last bit coming off as a threat rather then a warning.

"Ptt…Rukia isn't Ichigo's girlfriend." Renji said defensively, then the rest of the words dawned on him. He looked at Hitsugaya and Hinamori then said,

"You two are finally courting now hey, about damn time as well. Congrats!" Hinamori gave a small smile and blushed, however, neither Hitsugaya nor Ichigo seemed to share Renji's enthusiasm. They both just stared at him. Hitsugaya's glare was from embarrassment – that he could understand, but why Ichigo stared at him eluded him. After all, he was just merely stating the truth…wasn't he?

Ichigo sighed inwardly and turned around to Hinamori again to apologise. He was never angry at anyone in the first place, he just had to take it out on something or else he would have gone crazy. He walked over to his bed and sat down.

"So, can you three tell me how this all happened in detail?"

About an hour later, Ichigo was filled in with all the necessary details.

"So, Aizen's skill is illusions. He's a power hungry freak who's being looking for the Hyougoku ever since he learned of it. But since Urahara stored it inside Rukia, he panicked when he couldn't locate her during the time she was here in that undetectable gigai. So he sent Byakuya and Renji to secure her capture. As soon as she was found, he exterminated the council and by impersonating them, he had ordered Rukia's execution. During this time, he faked his own death so it would be easier to impersonate the council. Since we had already broken in, the Gotei-13 postponed the investigation into Aizen's death. However, the execution failed and method one of extracting the Hyougoku failed with it. On to method two, direct extraction from the Konpaku itself. Now you're telling me that a few days ago, Aizen used Hinamori-san as a diversion to kidnap Rukia. Since the diversion occurred during a captains meeting, naturally all the captains present went after Aizen except Byakuya, who felt, may I add intelligently, that something was wrong with the plan. By the time he reached them, Aizen had already reached Rukia. He then used another illusion to trick Byakuya and hence successfully kidnapped Rukia. Now the captains have decided that they will bring back Urahara Kisuke to interrogate him about the Hyougoku. Is that it?"

The three shinigamis responded by nodding. Suddenly Hitsugaya's head jerked up. He immediately left for the window.

"Some of the shinigamis in my group are in trouble. I have to go." He said. Hinamori stopped him.

"I'll come with you. It's my group too." Hitsugaya was about to nod in consent when Hinamori suddenly broke into a small coughing fit. The nod of consent suddenly became a shake of strong disagreement.

"No way, not when you still haven't fully recovered. Stay here until I come back." With that he leapt out the window and was gone. Hinamori watched him until he ran out of her line of vision, then she turned to face the others.

"It's going to be a big day tomorrow. We should get some rest. Hinamori-san, you can rest in there." He said, pointing her towards the closet. She politely thanked him and climbed in, closing the door behind her.

"Where should I rest?" asked Renji.

"Shouldn't you go back to Seireitai?" Ichigo asked.

"I can't yet, I haven't completed everything I have to do yet. I have to get a thorough understanding of what has been happening in the living world."

"Well" Ichigo grinned, looking at the floor, "you can sleep on the floor. I don't have extra blankets though since Hinamori is using the closet."

Renji glared at him. It was freezing. "Ano yaro." He muttered as he made himself comfortable on the floor.

* * *

.

Morning dawned. Hinamori yawned and jumped out of the closet.

"Mmph…what the!" came a voice underneath her. She saw who she had landed on and quickly got up, bowed and apologised. Ichigo had woken up from Renji's squeal and was now laughing at the squished form of the 6th division vice-captain.

"Hinamori-san, you should really look at where you're going to land before you jump." Scolded Renji sleepily, who had sat up lousily to speak, then, forgetting that there was neither pillow nor blanket, he had let himself fall back forcefully onto the hard, wooden floors.

"Damn it!" He cursed, rubbing his head. He glared at Ichigo, who was still laughing at him. Hinamori giggled despite herself then suddenly gave a loud shriek. This obviously startled the other two in the room as they looked curiously at her.

"Shiro-chan, where is he, he didn't come back yesterday!" She said, panic rising up within her.

"He's probably in the house somewhere." Replied Ichigo.

"But he's not! I can't sense him. Besides, he would have come to see me by now!" She turned to Renji, "what if something happened to him?"

"Don't worry Hinamori" He assured her quickly when he saw that tears were forming yet again in her eyes.

* * *

By four o'clock in the afternoon, the Kurosaki living room was once packed again. Everyone who was there yesterday was there today, except for Ryuuken and Ishida who went off training. Of course, there were additional people – Renji, Ukitake, Shunsui and Hinamori. Hitsugaya still had not come back yet and Hinamori was loosing her nerves. She had taken a scroll around the area in the afternoon in an attempt to find him but it was all in vain. So in the end she reluctantly returned to the clinic to wait for him there. She was sitting on the couch next to Renji who was getting increasingly annoyed at her fidgeting and constant glancing at the door. But he remained silent though, he understood why she was so worried, with everything that happened to her, he definitely couldn't blame her. 

The group spent the next hour updating each other on what was happening on their respective sides. Urahara also explained why Aizen needed Rukia, the reason infuriated Ichigo and Renji even more but it also gave them some source of comfort. They also had to address some problems.

Since Urahara had to go with Ukitake and Shunsui to Soul Society, he could no longer train Ichigo. This was solved when Ichigo stood up and said, with no space for argument, that he was going to accompany them to Soul Society and that was that. The captains eventually agreed. The other training programs were, however, unaltered. Ishida will train with Ryuuken (as he was already doing), Isshin will train Yuzu, Karin, Ururu and Jinta, and Yoruichi will train Tatsuki and further train Chad and Inoue while Hirako will 'do whatever you Vaizards do' (as Urahara puts it). Each training group will be specified a specific location for Hollow elimination. Isshin and Yoruichi, as former shinigami captains, were once again allowed to perform soul burials when necessary. Apart from this, soul society will be sending over groups each week instead of single shinigamis for each location. When Ichigo heard this, he remembered the so called elite shinigami he met the other day. _What was his name?_ Ichigo racked his head, _Kurumaya or something._

Just as he thought this, the door flung open to reveal Captain Hitsugaya and his group of shinigamis, along with Kurumaya Zennosuke. Hinamori leapt up immediately and flung herself onto an astonished Hitsugaya, who turned a bright shade of red from being embraced so intimately in front of his subordinates, two captains, three former captains, Renji and some strangers. His audience seemed somewhat amused, Renji seemed grateful. Nonetheless, he embraced her back.

Meanwhile, Zennosuke caught sight of Ichigo and was pointing at him comically. Stuttering as he spoke:

"You're th…that fake shinigami! Everybody, this man is a fraud!" he cried genuinely. Everyone in the room looked amused. Kurumaya looked around desperately for support but found none, he looked at Hitsugaya taichou but he was in a world of his own with Hinamori-fukutaichou.

"My, my." Said Ukitake. "Ichigo is a shinketsu shinigami. He was licensed to continue his work as a substitute shinigami when he returned to the living world. Though he is coming back with us to help rescue Rukia." Kurumaya looked as though he was just struck by lightning. Poor man was so confused.

"Rukia, as in Kuchiki Rukia, the death row prisoner? Why would you want to rescue her? That's against the rules!" Ichigo scoffed at that.

"What kind of elite shinigami are you? You don't even know what's been happening in soul society! Everything is a big conspiracy, we already established that. Let's go to soul society now." He said exasperatedly, getting up from his chair. Shunsui moved to inform Kurumaya of the events passed.

On the other side of the room, Yuzu quietly asked Karin,

"What is all this training and stuff for? What's happening, Karin-chan?" Ukitake heard this and informed Isshin, advising him to explain the situation to his children for their safety. At this, Isshin bent down to be face-to-face with his daughters.

"Once upon a time, there was an evil glasses dude called Aizen. He was very greedy, even though he was already a captain in the Gotei-13 of a faraway place named Seireitai in Soul Society, he still wanted more power. One day, he learnt of a magical object made by a foolish old man, Urahara Kisuke, known as the Hyougoku. This magical device had the power to change death gods into hollows and vice versa. Urahara, knowing he had made such an evil object, erected a magical shield around it and placed the device in a konpaku known as Kuchiki Rukia, a princess in the Kuchiki clan. Now, Aizen, with his two evil accomplices, a fox named Ichimaru Gin and a sunglasses dude name Tousen decided that…"

KA BANG! Small but powerful fist connected with Isshin's cheek, causing him to double over. Once he recollected himself, he looked at his daughter who hit him. Karin's veins were popping out of her face, her fist held in front of her in a tight ball, knuckles facing him.

"Don't talk to us like were idiots, you idiot!" Isshin hung his head in shame.

"Yare, yare" said Shunsui as he took over and explained to them, properly one might add, about the situation at hand.

* * *

.

Half an hour later, everyone was up to date and the death gods prepared to return to soul society.

"It's such a shame" said Isshin, looking at Hinamori, "that such a beauty has to leave. Are you sure you have to go? Hinamori blushed and looked down. Ichigo's eyes twitched a few times. "You can always stay here and accompany me. I get so lonely sometimes..."

WHACK! Ichigo had once again found it necessary to give his father yet another jump kick. "Pervert." He snapped at his now fallen father. On top of that, the room dropped about fifty degrees in temperature. _Don't say bankai, don't say bankai, don't say bankai_ Thought Hitsugaya desperately, his head now a forest of veins from the restraint.

* * *

.

Back at Seireitai, a meeting with all the captains and their respective vice-captains was called. Ichigo and Urahara also attended.

"Aizen must have realised that a ritual is required to remove the bou heki I erected around the Hyougoku. The ritual is four months long and is comprised of two stages, the first is called the purification period, and the second is the removal of the shield. The purification period takes four months. During this time, the konpaku must be placed inside a purification containment. The containment is similar to a rectangular box made of glass. During the four months, the container can not be opened. However, the konpaku itself must be kept alive. Alive but asleep. For this to work, a barrier must be created around it. This is an enrichment barrier that tends to all the necessary needs to keep those within its barriers alive. This barrier also ensures that nothing gets in and nothing gets out. The second stage is the removal of the barrier. To do this, the konpaku must be sacrificed in a methodological way in order to dissolve the bou heki."

"So he will not harm Rukia for another four months? Is there no way to speed the process?" asked Byakuya, narrowing his eyes at Urahara. He really hated him, hated him with a passion.

"No, there is no possible way to accelerate the purification process. Your sister should be safe for another four months." Urahara replied, a tinge of guilt rising within him.

"Her safety would have never become a issue if it wasn't for you." Byakuya retorted, albeit, calmly and emotionlessly.

"Enough, gentlemen. What is done can not be undone, but what is to come can be prevented. We shall bring the contest for the captain seats forward. Now, in one and a half months time, the contest will be held. This would provide an incentive for more shinigamis to train harder. There is a slight change in the procedure of the contest. Instead of fighting against captains first then amongst the winners, it shall be reversed instead. Therefore, in one and a half months time, a tournament will be held amongst all shinigamis. One week after, another tournament will be held against the winners of the previous tournament. Then, two months and one week from now, the tournament between captains and the winners will take place. However, the rules still apply - captains are restricted from using their bankai. The aim is not elimination, nor is it critical injury. Remember, their aim is not to beat you. The remaining three winners will learn their bankai and become captain. They will then take command of the squads they have been allocated to. During this time, training times will continue as per usual but it shall be harder and more strenuous. Is that understood?"

"Hai, Master Yamamotogenryusai."

"For now, Ichigo and Urahara will become substitute captains for the fifth and third division respectively. That will leave us one captain short but one is better then three. Byakuya, teach Ichigo the basics of being in the role of a captain." Ichigo stared at the first commander incredulously. _Is he serious!_

"Yes Sir" replied Byakuya, throwing the orange-haired a side glance. Renji snickered the quickly collected himself when Byakuya's gaze adverted to him instead.

"Okay then, you are all dismissed."

* * *

.

It was six O'clock at night and Hinamori had just finished the tiny amount of paperwork she had to do. Hitsugaya had _insisted_ on doing most of her paper work for her. Actually, he had _insisted_ on doing it _all_ but she complained about boredom so he had left her with a minimal amount of work. Minimal being pretty much next to none. _Oh well, it suits me today._ She said as she reached into a drawer and pulled out a recipe book she had retrieved from the living world and moved towards the kitchen.

* * *

END OF PART SEVEN

* * *

**Next: Chapter Eight – Birthday**

**Summary:** It's Hitsugaya's birthday.

It's going to be mostly fluff just to make up on the lack of HitsuHina (and plus I'm in that mood so…)

Anyway, hope you enjoyed it.

Please read and review & thanks again for those who have. )


	8. Birthday

**

* * *

PART EIGHT – BIRTHDAY

* * *

**

Thanks for everyone who reviewed again, I love you guys!

**A Note**: I didn't really enjoy writing about the living world (except for the bits with HitsuHina of course) so this fic won't be having any more living world chapters. Besides, it was way too off track and I missed HitsuHina so much when I was writing them. So I'm making up for it here. **Beware**: I am in a very romantic mood, and also happy so this would be a **_happy, fluffy, silly, soppy chapter._**

**Disclaimer:** I, unfortunately, don't own any part of Bleach, anime or manga.

* * *

**PART EIGHT**

* * *

It was late afternoon when Hitsugaya finalised his training with his division. He headed towards his office grudgingly where there was most definitely a mountain of paper work waiting for him on his desk. So he walked into his office expectantly, only to be completely surprised. Not only was there _not_ a single piece of paper waiting for him, there was a mountain of presents awaiting him. 

Rangiku and Hinamori walked in behind him. "Happy birthday, taichou" said Matsumoto, heading towards her beloved couch. Hinamori hugged him from the back and gave him a light peck on the cheek, "happy birthday, Shiro-chan." She then moved to join Matsumoto at the couch.

Hitsugaya was bewildered. _Today's my birthday? I completely forgot._ He recollected himself and walked to his desk to inspect his presents. In the middle of the desk surrounded by a heap of other presents was a dozen of roses in a glass vase. What had caught his eye wasn't particularly the dozen roses, it was the single white rose in the middle. With it came a note, written undeniably in Hinamori's handwriting.

"In every bunch there is one that stands out" he read out loud, looking at Hinamori. "Is this some sort of reference to my hair, or my height?" Hinamori and Matsumoto giggled. _Quite dense indeed, this prodigal captain of mine, _ thought Rangiku.

A few moments later, Renji, Ichigo, Izuru, Nanao, Shunsui and a few others burst through the doors.

"It's a party! Bring out the sake!" shouted Shunsui, who was immediately hit on the head with a fan by Nanao.

"You shouldn't drink so much, it's bad for your health." She said, pushing her glasses up.

"My Nanao-chan needs not to worry about me so much." He said, looking at her adoringly and extremely touched by her concern. Nanao ignored him and turned to Hitsugaya.

"Happy birthday, Hitsugaya taichou"

"Thank you, Nanao-san"

The others moved to greet him. After a moment, when everybody had finished saying happy birthday to a quite bored taichou, Renji suddenly came up with an idea.

"Let's play a birthday game!" Hitsugaya groaned.

"Now, now, don't be like that Hitsugaya taichou. Since Ichigo is here, we should play a game from his world." At this Ichigo thought for a minute.

"Ah, time honoured classic, truth or dare." Everyone looked at him.

"Truth or dare? How do you play such a game?"

"Well, a person has to choose between being asked a personal question and answering it truthfully or carry out a usually embarrassing action. Let's start by sitting in a circle." After everyone was sitting in a circle, Ichigo continued. "Let's start with Renji as an example. Renji, truth or dare?"

"Dare" he replied hesitantly after a moment of thought. "By the way, what's the penalty for not doing neither." Ichigo thought for a moment, "You'll be stripped down naked and forced to walk a full circle around Seireitai." Everyone gasped at that, Hitsugaya gave a snort.

"Okay, Renji, you chose dare. I dare you to … go to Byakuya's rooftop, pound on your chest with your fist and scream out "I am Byakuya's butt-monkey." Everybody roared out in laughter, even Hitsugaya, except for Renji who sat with his arms crossed and shaking his head like a mad man, his face was completely flushed.

"Do it, you have to do it or else you'll have to walk around naked!" ordered Shunsui.

* * *

_This is the last moment of my life before I get murdered by taichou_ thought Renji as he stood on the rooftop of sixth division headquarters looking down on the rather large crowd gathered below him. 

"Go on!" they shouted at him.

"Easy for you to say!" He screamed back at them. He took a deep, deep breath, brought his fist up and started to beat his chest.

"I AM BYAKUYA'S BUTT-MONKEY!" He screamed out. Everyone watching him roared in laughter, some of them were wiping away tears while others were rolling around the floor. Hitsugaya had never been so amused in his life.

"ABARAI RENJI, MY OFFICE IMMEDIATELY!" yelled Byakuya, who happened to come out when he heard the noises coming from outside his headquarters. He had exited just in time to look up and see _his_ vice-captain pounding on his own chest like some gorilla and scream out that he was his_, Kuchiki Byakuya's_, butt-monkey. _The absurdity!_ He was about to turn around and stomp, albeit gracefully, back into his office when he caught sight of Ichigo. "Ichigo, you will join him as well."

Thus the game of truth or dare ended like so.

* * *

The game ended but the party did not. They returned to the tenth division headquarters and resumed the party. After a long while, Ichigo and Renji returned. Both had red hand marks on one side of their faces. Apparently Byakuya had ordered them to slap each other as hard as they could as punishment. However, by the time it was eight, majority of them were drunk and were ushered back to their rooms. Eventually everybody left, leaving Hitsugaya alone with Hinamori. 

"Wait a second, I have to get some things." Said Hinamori. She quickly rushed out the door and returned a few minutes later carrying two boxes.

"Let's go up to rooftop and watch the fireworks." She said, grabbing his hand.

Once they were seated comfortably on the rooftop, Hinamori handed him the first box. It was in the shape of a book.

"Guess what it is first."

"Hmm, a book with 101 reasons why Hitsugaya Toshiro is the greatest?" She laughed and he basked in it.

""No, okay open it!" He did and let out a gasp of surprise. It was really just chocolates but each piece had been made into the shape of his head. The hair was made of white chocolate while the rest was made of plain chocolate. _Should I eat these or should I frame these?_ He thought to himself.

"You made these, how long did it take you." She smiled at the look on his face.

"That's for me to know and for you to never find out."

"That's only because I'd tell you off for depriving yourself of sleep."

She handed him the second box and he opened it. It was a cake, also in the shape of his head.

"It's beautiful." He said, then after a moment's thought, "But then again it's of me so you can hardly go wrong." He said jokingly, though his tone was dead serious. Hinamori smiled proudly then produced two forks and a candle. She gave one to him who looked quizzically at it for a moment then shrugged.

"Wait, you have to make a wish!" She said after she lit the candle.

"Huh?"

"Apparently, if you make a wish in your head before blowing out the candle then it will come true. Make a wish then blow the candles out."

Hitsugaya looked at the flame consuming the wax. _That's easy, I wish I could be with Hinamori forever_. He was about to blow out the candle when he gave his wish a second thought. Of course he wanted to be with her forever. But there was another wish that seemed more … worthy. _I wish that Hinamori will live a long fulfilled life filled with happiness._ He would try his hardest to give her that happiness but if anything happened to him, or them, he didn't want her to suffer for it. He thought the wish was sufficiently efficient - the _long_ secured her safety, _fulfilled_ encompassed no regrets and happiness was self-explanatory. He blew out the candle.

He then proceeded to take a large junk out his head-shaped cake and ate it. "I hope there is no metaphorical connotations behind the eating of my head." He said as he forked another piece.

The fire works had started and the young couple sat on the rooftop. Hinamori snuggled against Hitsugaya, her head on his shoulder.

"Hey Shiro-chan, what did you wish for?" She asked, not moving her head from his shoulder.

"Silly, I thought you weren't suppose to tell anyone or else the wish won't come true." He said, looking at her.

"Mou, I want to know." She pouted. _Great, I can never win against that._ Thought Hitsugaya. He sighed in defeat.

"I was going to wish for you to be with me forever but then after a second thought, I wished for your safety and happiness instead." They looked at each other for a moment then Hinamori broke eye contact as she reached for his hand. She proceeded to draw a circle on his palm with her finger and then prompted him to do the same.

"What does that mean?" He asked, baffled.

"It's a custom, drawing a circle on each others palms will mean that the couple will be together in their next life as well as this life." She said, leaning in and gently rubbing her nose with his, then placing a kiss on top of it before she moved away.

He stopped her. "I think we can do better then that." He said as he moved in towards her. Her heart beat faster as she closed her eyes in anticipation. It was a slight brush on the lips at first, Hinamori tingled from the sensation. They looked at each other for a second then closed their eyes again for a second kiss. This time it was deeper as their tongues touched. Hinamori subconsciously placed the back of her hand on his head to bring him closer. The couple was oblivious to everything around them, all they knew of the moment was each other.

The fireworks continued in the background as the couple kissed.

* * *

When the fireworks finally finished, Hinamori and Hitsugaya returned to Hitsugaya's room to sleep. Somehow the sorting of the blankets became a full fledged pillow fight. By the end of it, they were exhausted. Hinamori then laid down and curled up next to Hitsugaya. 

"Goodnight Shiro-chan" she said.

"Goodnight, bed wetter Momo" he replied. His thoughts wondered to the events throughout the day. This was by far the best and most memorable birthday he has ever had. _Of course, today was the day I had my very first kiss, with Hinamori nonetheless._ He smiled happily, looking at the ceiling.

"Thank you, Momo."

"For what?" She replied sleepily.

"Everything." He replied.

They slowly drifted to sleep together.

* * *

Morning dawned on them. Hinamori slowly woke up and put a hand out to where Hitsugaya was laying…only to find an empty spot. She sat up and looked around. The room was empty and Hitsugaya's captain cloak was missing. She looked at the time and yelped. _I missed the vice-captain meeting!_ She cried inwardly, _why didn't Hitsugaya wake me up?"_ She got up and walked over to where her neatly folded black shinigami uniform was placed and saw a note on it. 

The note had a picture of chibi Hitsugaya on it with thought bubbles coming out of his head. In the thought bubbles was chibi Hinamori. Along with her picture was his writing which said "didn't have time to wake you up." _That's his other way of saying "I couldn't bring myself to wake you up"._ She smiled happily, got changed then headed towards her division headquarters.

When she arrived, she was surprised to see a large bouquet of roses on her desk. There was a note next to the glass vase which she picked up and read. _In every bunch there is one who stands out._ And sure enough there was a single white rose in the bundle. She counted the roses, there was a hundred. _Shiro-chan isn't so dense after all.

* * *

_

**END OF PART EIGHT**

* * *

Hope you guys liked it, even though it may be too over romantic for some. Hehehe, I wonder what I'd be like if I write about valentines day... 

**_Please review_ and thanks so much for those who have.**


	9. The New Girl

**Part 9: **The New Girl

Thanks to all those who reviewed!

O Gods, I knew I shouldn't have split writing this into two days. Now half the second part is hell fluffy & romantic not to mention dramatic.

**Kumote:** One-on-one training fight

**Daijoubu**: Are you okay?

**Haha-ue:** Respectful way of saying mother.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any part of Bleach, manga or anime.

* * *

PART NINE

* * *

Two weeks had passed and everything continued to be hectic. Training was harder, the captains expected more and determination was higher. The only constant thing was the blossoming relationship between Hitsugaya and Hinamori, who had grown impossibly more in love with each other during the weeks and were now even more inseparable. 

Hitsugaya stood amongst the other captains and their respective vice-captains in the gathering room of Seireitai. Today was the day when the new graduates of Shinigami School were to be allocated to a division.

Master Yamamoto started his welcoming speech.

"Welcome to all the new shinigamis and congratulations. Soon we will allocate you to a division but first let me notify you of the current situations and rules in place. Firstly, war time orders are still in place. This means that every shinigami is allowed to constantly carry their zanpakuto around with them. The release of soul slayers is also allowed in times of danger. Secondly, three tournaments will be held within the next three months. The top three winners will then proceed with the three-day-method to achieve their bankai and subsequently become captain of either third, fifth or ninth squad. For now however, there are two substitute captains." He looked at Ichigo.

"Kurosaki Ichigo is the substitute captain of the fifth division. He has achieved his bankai and usually serves as a substitute shinigami in the living world." He said as he indicated the orange haired shinigami. Next, he looked at Urahara.

"Urahara Kisuke is the substitute captain of the third division. Urahara was a former captain of Gotei-13." Introduced Master Yamamoto to the crowd.

"Even though these two are substitutes, you are still expected to show them the same respect and courtesy befitting of any captain." He paused and scanned the room for any protestors. Seeing as there were none, he continued on.

"The first tournament is held in six weeks. The second in eight weeks, meaning there is only two weeks in between the first and second tournament. The final tournament against a captain will be held in nine weeks: so there is only one week in between the second and final tournament. For those who wish to participate, I will strongly advise you to practice in every spare moment you have in order to succeed. Thirdly, training will run in normal times but it shall be harder and more strenuous." The murmurs grew louder around the room.

"Silence. Now, the allocations will commence. Newcomers, you should all have been given a black pouch when you walked through the doors. Please inform me now by raising your hand if you do not have one."

"Good. Now open it and you will find a wooden tablet inside with a number on it. When you have looked at your number, please assemble in a single file before your assigned captain and vice-captain.

_So I have about eight new shinigamis in mine huh._ Thought Hitsugaya.

One of the shinigamis lined up towards the back of the line asked the shinigami in front of him, "Is our captain here? I can't see him." Matsumoto, who happened to pass him just as he said that replied, "He's here, he's just a bit challenged in the vertical sense that's all." She gave Hitsugaya a smug grin when he gave her the evils. _Taichou's got good ears._ She thought, a sweat drop running down her face as she quickly returned to his side.

As she was standing at the front, she noticed a new girl in her division who seemed to be around Hitsugaya's age. Oblivious to Hitsugaya, this girl's eyes were completely fixated on him. Matsumoto shrugged it off, thinking that it was normal to do that when you first see your captain, especially one so young. Hell, she had stared like a stalker when she was first assigned, though hers was more in disbelief and amusement.

* * *

. 

The assembly finished and the captains lead their new members to their division headquarters. At the tenth division headquarter, Hitsugaya used the first half hour to explain to the newcomers about their training schedule and to answer questions while Matsumoto led the others into training. That way, the newcomers were able to observe the others training and ask more questions.

During her few glances towards her taichou, Matsumoto saw that the girl before, whom she found out was called Ayumi Tadaki, kept raising her hand to ask questions. And from Hitsugaya's facial expressions, they seemed to be quite intelligent. _Is this girl just keen to learn or does she have some hidden intentions?_ She thought, observing the two.

Her question was later answered during kumote when Hitsugaya was walking around adjusting stances and positioning. It all became crystal clear to Rangiku when Ayumi suddenly adopted bad positioning whenever Hitsugaya came near, especially when she had a perfect stance about a second ago. _Let it go, girl, Taichou has been long taken by Hinamori chan.

* * *

_

Hitsugaya sighed. _These days have been so hectic, and I still have a load of paper work to do. At least I no longer have to do the 5th Division's paper work._ He smiled inwardly at Ichigo's reaction when Byakuya had informed him that he had paperwork to do.

/ "Paperwork! You've gotta be kidding right? Reports everyday, on what? To hell with that!" /

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't realise when one of the newcomers approached him.

"Em, taichou, may I speak with you for a moment?" He looked at the girl - she had a slight resemblance to Hinamori except that her hair was black and was worn down. Then again, Hitsugaya saw Hinamori everywhere. He could even see her face on a blank wall if he tried hard enough. So what, his judgement may be a little clouded but Ayumi definitely held some resemblance.

"Yeah sure" he replied as he sat down in front of his desk. He glanced quickly at Rangiku who was now pretending to read through some reports on the couch.

"I think my swordsmanship leaves something to be desired, what do you think I can improve on?" _Gods, can you be even more cliché?_ Thought Rangiku as she grinned to herself.

"You needn't worry yourself at this time. It was only your first day. Besides, I thought your positioning was quite good, except it became quite sloppy suddenly at times. But nothing you can't work on."

"Really?" she beamed. She was so busy basking in the comment that she didn't notice Hinamori come in. Hitsugaya lit up when he saw her and walked to greet her. Rangiku observed Ayumi as she watched the couple talk to each other.

Hinamori eventually noticed that she was been stared at.

"Who's that?" she asked Hitsugaya, who turned and remembered the other girl's presence.

"Hinamori, this is Ayumi Tadaki, a newcomer. Ayumi-san, this is Hinamori fukutaichou of the fifth division." He introduced. The two girls greeted each other pleasantly.

"And she's also his girlfriend!" called out Matsumoto. Hitsugaya glared at her while Hinamori turned a slight shade of pink. Ayumi looked stunned.

"Girl…girlfriend huh?" She stuttered. She regained her composure and turned to her captain, "Thank you for your time. There is nothing else I want to ask, may I be excused?" At Hitsugaya's nod she walked out of the room.

* * *

. 

"Somebody likes taichou." Rangiku sang as she got up to leave the room.

"Who?" Rangiku threw her genuinely baffled captain a 'look' before she stepped out of the room.

Once they were alone, Hitsugaya walked over to Hinamori and embraced her from behind, nuzzling her neck. Hinamori smiled happily then returned the embrace by putting her arms around his.

"You've gotten taller, Hitsugaya kun." Hitsugaya cheered inwardly, _so that dairy diet is working huh. Mental note: thank Unohana later._ Hinamori felt him smile into her neck.

"You know, I think Rangiku-chan was right. Tadaki-san seems to have a little crush on you."

"Nonsense, she's just eager to learn." Though Hitsugaya's brows furrowed in thought. Hinamori noticed this and turned her head to look at him.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing." He said, but he changed his mind after a moment's thought. "It's just that Tadaki seems familiar. I feel like I've met her somewhere before but I can't remember where. Perhaps somewhere back in the old days when we still lived in Rukongai. Does she seem familiar to you?" He asked. Hinamori shook her head.

"Oh well, it doesn't matter." He looked at her, a small smile on his face. "So, how was your day so far?"

"The usual. Everything was so hectic." She said, then slyly added "It could really get better" whilst turning around in his arms to face him fully.

"Really, how?" Hitsugaya replied, joining in the play. His small smile widening as he spoke. Their faces inched closer.

She came in closer and Hitsugaya closed his eyes. Hinamori bent in, gave him a quick kiss on the forehead and pulled away. "That's your job" she giggled.

"Oi, oi." He protested, reaching out to grab her wrist. He pulled her back towards him and kissed her passionately.

* * *

. 

A few moments later, they decided to go for a walk and inadvertently found themselves walking towards the fifth division headquarters.

"Is Ichigo managing the captain role well?" He asked.

"He gets quite confused at times but besides that he's doing quite well." They continued to walk in silence for a moment when Hinamori slightly paused and asked,

"So, what are you going to do if Tadaki-san likes you?" Hitsugaya was slightly caught off guard but answered nonetheless.

"I doubt she does but if she did then there wouldn't be much she could do about it."

When they entered the headquarters, Ichigo was sitting behind the desk looking like a steamed bun. He was scratching his head agitatedly and Hinamori took a guess that it was more to do with the pile of paper sitting on his desk rather than an itchy head. She let out a stifled giggle which brought attention to Ichigo that he was no longer alone in the room.

"Ah, Hinamori, Hitsugaya." He greeted. He had become quite close acquaintances with the two over the past two weeks. Mainly because Hinamori was his vice-captain and Hitsugaya never really departs from Hinamori's side unless he really has to.

Hinamori smiled at him.

"Let's go have dinner then we'll come back and help you with the papers." She suggested. Ichigo agreed feverishly and was out before the two of them.

* * *

. 

"_It's there, by your right Hitsu-chan." A little girl not much older then four called out to her friend. Her finger was pointing at a butterfly just above him. She laughed as he jumped to catch it but failed and landed flat on his face on the ground. She ran over to him, concerned._

"_Daijoubu?" She asked, worry clouding her big, widened eyes. Her short black hair going in all directions from the wind._

"_I'm fine" Hitsugaya said stubbornly, refusing her help to get up._

"_Come on, we have to go back soon. It's getting dark." She grabbed his hand and ran towards their 'family home'. There was an old lady waiting there._

_His 'mother' bent down and picked some loose grass off his hair. She looked sad._

"_What's the matter, haha-ue? Did I do something wrong?" A single tear escaped her eyes as she gently shook her head. His small fingers reached up to wipe the tear off her face._

"_Toshiro, this house is getting fuller then I can take. I don't want this anymore than you do but you have to go with this kind obaasan. This is an order from the district chief. Don't worry, she will take good care of you." The young Hitsugaya looked at the obaasan then back to his mother._

"_But I don't want to go. I want to stay here, with you and Ayumi-chan." He argued, cried and threw tantrums but his mother's resolve was strong. In the end, he had no choice but to comply._

_As he walked away from the house he had lived in ever since he came to soul society, he vowed that he will never let anyone or anything near enough to hurt him this much anymore. He looked back to see his mother and Ayumi crying. It had strengthened his resolved a hundred fold._

_But when he arrived in his new home, he met Hinamori Momo. His resolve eventually shattered, but only for her. And soon he had learned to forget what he had left behind.  
_

Hitsugaya's eyes flung open.

* * *

. 

The next day during training, Hitsugaya pulled Ayumi to one side and told her to stay behind for a few minutes after. During the entire training period, Hitsugaya was distracted and a little disorientated. Matsumoto noticed this but only received a shrug when she asked him what was wrong. She was even more confused when he asked her to stay away from his office for a while after training had ended. However, she could only obey him since he was, after all, her superior.

The end of training for the day eventually came.

"What did you want to talk to me about, taichou?" Ayumi asked, looking quizzically at Hitsugaya who was half sitting and half leaning on his desk.

"Which district from Rukongai were you from?" he asked, his face still a mask.

"36, captain." _So she is the one._ He looked her in the eye and saw a glimmer of hope.

"Why didn't you inform me who you were?" Her eyes widened, her expression was one of shock then it changed to happiness.

"You remembered!" He raised an eyebrow, telling her wordlessly that he still expected an answer.

"I wanted to see if you remembered, Hitsu-chan." She explained, using her version of his nickname teasingly.

"Don't call me that." He said gruffly. She laughed.

"Some things never change, do they? Hitsugaya-taichou." She sighed, saying his rank playfully now.

* * *

. 

Hinamori slumped against the door of the tenth division office. She hadn't meant to overhear anything and now she wished she never had. It was silly really, so they were old friends – no big deal. _So why do I feel so scared? _She thought, w_hat is this other feeling that I'm experiencing? Is this what they call … jealousy?_ She let out a quiet grunt of disbelief. _That's ridiculous, I have nothing to be jealous of._ But she was certain she had felt it at that moment when Ayumi called him 'Hitsu-chan', and when he had answered in his normal manner._ Was it because she did not want anyone else to share that deep bond she had with Hitsugaya?_ She scoffed, "Hinamori Momo, when had you become so selfish?" She whispered to herself, leaning her head against the door to look at the sky. It was just getting dark. Quietly but quickly she pushed her hands against the door to help her stand up. She glanced at the door one more time then made her way back to her room.

* * *

. 

"I tried looking for you when I turned twelve (or the equivalent of it) but they said you had already joined the shinigami academy. So I joined as soon as I discovered I had spiritual powers. It came as a shock to me that you became a captain so fast, the Toshiro I knew was quite clumsy in my memory." Hitsugaya gave a slight smile.

"People change." He simply stated.

He was a bit distracted. A moment ago he could swear that Hinamori was just outside the door. Her aura was a bit off, like she was distressed or something. _Why didn't she come in?_ He thought, worry slowly became him. But some matters had to be dealt with first.

"I may have to arrange for you to be placed into another division. See, it's a rule that the captain can not have an old friend under his or her command. It helps prevent favouritism in times of contests and other like events, among other things."

"I'm a favourite hey?" she joked. Hitsugaya faltered for a bit.

"It's just a rule." He said, trying to avoid the look she was giving him.

"It doesn't matter. I'm just glad to finally see you again." She said sweetly.

"Me too." He said genuinely after a moment. A slight smile appearing on his stoic face.

* * *

. 

Matsumoto knocked on Hinamori's door and entered. She went and sat down next to her friend who was looking a little depressed. She was sitting next to a small coffee table, hugging her knees which served to be a cushion for her head.

"What's wrong, Hinamori-chan?" Hinamori shook her head gently and looked at Matsumoto.

"Nothing." Rangiku raised an eyebrow.

"It's just that I got a little scared of myself. Right after training I went to Hitsugaya-kun's office and was about to go in when I overheard him talking to Tadaki-san. Apparently he remembered that she was his childhood friend, he used to live in the same house with her before he came to my district."

"So that was why he asked me to stay away from the office for a while after training." Rangiku thought out loud.

"He what?"

"It means nothing." She quickly assured her. "Go on."

Hinamori looked at her for a moment then continued on.

"I heard her use a nickname on him, sort of how I call him Shiro-chan, and somehow it just really got to me. I felt annoyed, and angry and so, so scared. I felt jealous and insecure. I hate this feeling." She cried, her voice getting louder and more forceful the more she talked.

"Shhh." She comforted her. After a moment, she said,

"It is human nature to fear losing something precious to you. The use of nicknames and such are things you consider personal and exclusive to your relationship with taichou. Naturally, anyone who approaches him so personally will be considered a threat."

"So I should feel angry and possessive, but what about jealousy? Why should I feel jealous?"

"She was also his childhood friend, was she not? And he knew her before he knew you right? Perhaps somewhere inside you feel threatened by the idea that maybe the bond between her and taichou may one day surpass your bond with him. Which is impossible, may I add."

"It hurts. And I'm so scared. I've been abandoned and betrayed by so many people in my life, but if he leaves me I think I'll break."

Rangiku scoffed at the absurdity of the idea. "Taichou would never betray you, nor will he leave you. Especially not for another woman." She looked her seriously in the eye.

"Talk to him." She advised. "You know what the one thing I regret the most is?" Hinamori looked at her and shook her head.

"Not being able to say everything I wanted to Gin before he…left."

"But what if he wants her instead? She is going to be in his division, what if they grow closer and closer until one day he loves her more instead? I don't think I could handle it if he told me that." She protested.

"Don't dwell on 'if'. We live in a rather dangerous world. You both had nearly died already and you still don't understand, if something happens to him tomorrow, can you live with a lifetime of 'if'." She got up and looked at her. "I have to. And there is not a day that goes by where I don't berate myself for not being able to help Gin. Now all I'm left with is 'what _if_ I had done this'. Trust me, there is no single world crueller then the word _'if'_."

"I'm sorry Rangiku-chan." She had no idea until today how deeply hurt Rangiku was by Ichimaru Gin's betrayal. She had thought it was like how she felt with Aizen, but she was wrong. It was on a completely different level.

Rangiku's eyes softened. "Just promise me you'll talk to him about it and work it out." She said. Hinamori nodded.

"I will. I promise. Thank you Rangiku-chan." Rangiku smiled at her then left the room. Hinamori stared at where she had been standing. Then she wiped her tears and got up.

* * *

. 

"It was nice being able to talk to you again. Congratulations, once again, for getting into the Gotei-13. Unfortunately, I can't talk much longer. I have something I must attend to." He said politely, getting quite desperate. He was genuinely glad to see her once again but it had been a very long time ago, and they had been very, very young. Unlike her as it seemed, he felt like the woman in front of him was like a stranger. It had been too long since they had last seen each other and he had forgotten many things over the years. Also, he was convinced that something was wrong, normally Hinamori would have shown up by now.

"Are you talking about Hinamori-fukutaichou?" She asked, an all-knowing expression on her face. Hitsugaya looked down, feeling a tinge of guilt.

"You love her very much don't you?" she asked, although she already knew the answer. Hitsugaya looked down and nodded, one foot moving to draw invisible pictures on the floor.

"She's very lucky." She commented gently, then she smiled broadly. Hitsugaya looked up at her.

"Well if you missed her so much you should have told me, Hitsugaya-taichou. I don't want to become an ice-sculpture just because I talk too much." She laughed. A small smile formed on his face.

Once she left, Hitsugaya set off to find Hinamori. He didn't get too far. In fact, he didn't have to leave his office. A few seconds after Ayumi left, Hinamori had walked in. 

He rushed up to her and examined her. "You've been crying!" He exclaimed. Hinamori looked away. "What happened? Do I need to practice my bankai on someone?" He said in a serious tone. She giggled despite herself and he couldn't resist but pull her into a hug.

* * *

.

"So you overheard our conversation then left. Why didn't you come in?" He asked. They were sitting on the roof together, the night had already fallen and the only light that illuminated the couple was the large moon.

"I got … scared." She replied slowly and sheepishly.

"Scared, of what?" He asked, clearly baffled. She looked at him.

"Of loosing you. For a moment I got scared that you might eventually leave me for her." Hitsugaya stared at her in disbelief for a moment. He found it amazing that she could say that with a straight face – she really did believe it didn't she? Even if it was just for a moment. He recollected himself.

"Baka Hinamori" he scolded, "that would never happen."

"That's what Rangiku said." She said with a small smile.

"And for once she's absolutely right." He commented. There was a moment's silence. Then Hitsugaya looked away from her.

"I like you. A lot." He said to the air in front of him but nonetheless intended for her. She smiled, slowly placing her head against the curve of his neck as a jingling warmth filled her. Hitsugaya responded by wrapping his arms around her.

"Promise me you'll never leave me then?" She asked of him, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I promise." He replied. She closed her eyes and leaned in closer to him.

* * *

END OF PART NINE

* * *

**Please read and review.**

Thanks so much for those who have, again.

**Kaeru Soyokaze: ** Update soon for Therapy for Shinigami! Onegai!


	10. Challenges

**

* * *

**

**CHAPTER 10: **Challenge – Final Tournament

* * *

Thanks to all those who reviewed! 

**Author's notes:** Okay, big skip but what the hey, this is the tournament that actually matters, the other two were basically made for this one. Beware of drama, lots and lots of drama. I'm very dramatic right now.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any part of Bleach, manga or anime.

* * *

PART TEN

* * *

By the time the second tournament was over, there were only twelve participants going onto the final tournament. Their skills, however, was kept a secret – only the judges and their captains knew what their speciality was. And it was to remain like so. Now all was left was their invitation to challenge a captain of another squad. The invitation could be rejected, provided the reason was acceptable, unless it was personally signed by Master Yamamoto – which was exactly what Hitsugaya received. 

It was an odd invitation:

_To the Captain of the Tenth Division, Hitsugaya Toshiro:_

_I,__Shinzaburo Michio, hereby request a controlled combat with you in the participating presence of fifth division vice-captain, Hinamori Momo._

Hitsugaya was taken aback at first. Next he found himself storming off see Master Yamamoto to withdraw his signature.

* * *

"But why sir? This tournament is specifically the component against a captain, not the component against a captain _and_ a vice-captain. If I am to fight then so be it but I am entirely against Hinamori-fukutaichou participating in this." 

"I understand your concerns, young Hitsugaya, but Shinzaburo has come to me personally to explain his request and it sounded reasonable enough for me to give him my consent. Remember, this is a controlled tournament, she will not be hurt."

"But…" He was cut off.

"My decision still stands, it will not be altered." He said firmly, clearly conveying to Hitsugaya that this is the end of this discussion. Hitsugaya hung his head in submission.

"Yes, sir" he said, giving a slight bow before walking out of the room.

* * *

"Shiro-chan, did you get an invitation to a challenge?" She asked him. 

"Yeah." He replied grimly, handing the invite over to her. Her eyes went wide as she read it.

"Why do I have to be in it? Isn't this a fight against captains? And Yamamoto-sama even signed it!" She asked, looking frantically at him.

"I don't know why they want you in it. But I'm going to make damn sure that you won't get hurt." He assured her, his eyes filled with determination.

* * *

. 

The day of the tournament finally dawned on them. Captains, vice-captains and other shinigamis filled the mega-stadium. In the middle of the stadium stood Hitsugaya, Hinamori and Shinzaburo. At the umpire's call, Shinzaburo bowed to Hitsugaya. At the second call, Shinzaburo and Hinamori bowed to each other. The entire stadium became dead quiet for the third call, which would begin the combat.

The call was made. In a flash Shinzaburo took out his zanpakuto and held it horizontally. "Possess" He commanded. His soul slayer became a sabre of blue. "Soujuumaru." The sword pulsed once, twice. On the third time, the entire stadium was blinded by its white light. It lasted only for a split second.

"What the?" gasped Hitsugaya. _What is his skill? It's obviously not diversion by blinding the opponent, like Tousen's skill. So what is it?_

"MOVE, Hitsugaya!" screamed Hinamori. Hitsugaya moved just in time to dodge a hit from Hinamori.

"Hinamori! What are you doing!" He yelled, shocked. _Not again, he couldn't this again._ Hinamori's tears ran freely, her eyes conveying shock and confusion, but other than from that her face was just like a mask.

She moved to strike at him continuously. _Why am I doing this? Why can't I control myself! Shiro-chan! Gomen ne, again I…_

Her attacks were fast and everywhere. All Hitsugaya could do was block them. He took a glance behind Hinamori to see Shinzaburo standing there, a serious expression on his face. _I have to get to him to stop this,_ he thought as he blocked and dodged Hinamori, _but how?_

_Clash._ His sword hit against Hinamori's and he pushed it sideways with all his strength. Hinamori slid away from him. He quickly passed her, aiming for Shinzaburo.

"HAJIKE!" Yelled Hinamori, releasing her shikai. Hitsugaya quickly moved to the side to dodge her energy ball. _Wha… He can even force them to use their shikai!_ Hitsugaya thought, shocked. The slight diversion was all that was needed. In a split second, Hinamori was in front of Hitsugaya, attacking him endlessly with her sword, blocking any path he had to Shinzaburo. _Damn it! I can't get past Hinamori without hurting her. And I can't release my shikai - it's too dangerous with her so close to me._ He thought desperately, frantic to think of a solution that wouldn't involve hurting her.

Hitsugaya quickly leaped back a few spaces.

"HYOURINMARU!" He yelled out as he landed, thinking his command. The entire stadium suddenly dropped massively in its temperature – so much that it filled up with so much fog that no one could see.

Shinzaburo looked around frantically. _Damn it!_ Suddenly he felt a sharp blade pressed against his neck. The fog disappeared as quickly as it appeared, revealing Hitsugaya standing behind Shinzaburo with Hyourinmaru's blade at his throat.

"It's over, Shinzaburo." He said loudly and icily. He leaned in closer to him and whispered, "If you use Hinamori to get to me ever again, for _any_ reason, I will kill you." As soon as the adjudicator announced the end of the combat, Hitsugaya sheathed his soul slayer quickly and rushed to Hinamori, who was still standing there shocked. She had dropped her sword and was now staring frantically at her hands. Hitsugaya stopped a few steps in front of her then approached her slowly.

"Hinamori" He said softly. She was on the verge of crying but was trying hard not to. When she looked up and saw him though, her barrier shattered and she broke down. He caught her as she fell, pulling her into a hug instead, comforting her with whispered words as she scrunched the front of his shinigami clothes, sobbing uncontrollably into the curve of his neck.

The whole stadium was quiet - all eyes were on the distressed vice-captain. _Forcing Hinamori to raise her sword against taichou again is too much for her to handle._ Thought Rangiku as she watched the two.

Seeing as Hinamori was in no state to walk and not wanting to further subject her to the prying eyes of the audience, Hitsugaya swept her up into his arms in one smooth movement. Her body was small and fragile against his, and he could still feel her trembling, causing him to hold her tighter and closer to him as he left the stadium.

* * *

. 

The sun was about to set, splashing an orangey-red tinge on the sky as it slowly retreated for the day.

In the living quarters of the tenth squad captain, a broken girl laid in between the blankets, asleep. Next to her was a young captain, sitting with his arms crossed protectively at his chest. He neither flinched nor moved, he just sat there – guarding her, observing her – ready to be there if she ever needed him.

A soft knock on the door diverted his gaze from the sleeping form in front of him to the door.

"Come in" He called out softly, as to not wake the girl. Matsumoto walked in, carrying a tray of food with her. She greeted her captain with a nod then placed the tray on the table.

"Thank you, Matsumoto" he said softly, truly grateful for her help. Matsumoto nodded again in acceptance then sat down next to Hinamori's sleeping form.

"How is she doing?" she asked, looking worriedly at her friend.

"I don't know." He admitted, looking down. "She cried herself to sleep. Nothing I said seemed to have helped."

"I'm sure it did. You just need to give her time. Perhaps after she wakes up she would be feeling better." She said in an assuring tone.

"How's the division doing?" he asked.

"Don't worry about that, I have that under control."

"Thank you, Matsumoto."

"No need for that. What's a vice-captain for?" she said with a smile as she got up to leave. A ghost of a smile appeared on Hitsugaya's lips.

"If there's anything you want me to do, I'll be in my office after the meeting." Hitsugaya nodded. With that she left the room. Hitsugaya returned his gaze to Hinamori.

* * *

. 

The meeting took place just after dinner with all the captains, sans Hitsugaya, and their respective vice-captains, sans Hinamori. They discussed who they would consider to be the top three winners.

"Shinzaburo Michio can be considered an asset to Gotei-13. It would be extremely helpful in the war with Aizen if his bankai can manipulate the enemy's armies." Brought out Master Yamamoto. Ichigo and Renji scoffed.

"Is there something you'd like to add, Abarai Renji and Kurosaki Ichigo?"

"I think his skills are too deceptive, like Aizen's. It could work against us in the future." Said Ichigo, still a bit sour about what he did to his vice-captain. Renji nodded feverishly in agreement. Byakuya looked away, embarrassed at Renji's behaviour.

"Yes, but unlike Aizen, we can tell when people are being controlled. He will serve to be a great asset in the war." There was silence in the room. _Taichou's not going to be very happy about this._ Thought Matsumoto.

"It is decided then, Shinzaburo Michio shall be one of the three."

"Besides him, there was only one other that performed exceptionally well, seeing as _none_ of the vice-captains participated - Fukushima Hoshiko." Murmurs of agreement erupted softly around the room.

"Yes, so be it then. She will be the another one of the three. However, that leaves us one short."

"Renji has already achieved his bankai." Stated Ichigo. Renji turned slightly red as he looked at the floor.

"Byakuya, what would you propose?" asked Master Yamamoto.

"It is up to Renji, sir. Though I have no objections."

"Do you believe that he is capable of being a captain at this stage?" Byakuya seemed to think for a brief moment, then he replied:

"Yes, though it goes without saying that some practice is needed." Renji stared at his captain, it was by far the biggest compliment he had, and would ever get, from him.

"Renji, do you accept?" asked Yamamoto.

"Well, if captain has faith in me" he grinned broadly and scratched the back of his head. Byakuya cringed inwardly. "Yes, I accept."

"So be it. The bankai training will assume the day after tomorrow. Since Renji has already achieved bankai, I will now promote him to the level of captain and announce him as Captain of the Ninth Division in place of the traitor, Kaname Tousen. Further to that, I will now defer the announcement of the captains-in-training until after the war. Until then, Urahara Kisuke and Kurosaki Ichigo will continue to be the captains of their respective squads." He looked at Renji, "Congratulations, Abarai Renji. Are there any other questions?"

Silence.

"Meeting closed. All is dismissed." Everyone moved to congratulate Renji on his promotion.

* * *

The room eventually emptied out. Renji followed the last person out and was shocked to find his former captain waiting for him outside. 

"Congratulations, Renji." He said, his voice still as smooth and emotionless as ever.

"Maa, thank you, taichou." Renji replied sheepishly, scratching his head. Byakuya nodded in acknowledgement.

Renji rambled on, "Can't wait to tell Rukia!" He exclaimed, about to run off when he suddenly remembered the situation. A glimmer of sadness passed on Byakuya's face, but it disappeared so fast that Renji wasn't sure if he had imagined it. He nodded again and walked off.

Sweat poured down Renji's face. Suddenly an arm swung around his shoulder.

"Yo, nice one, _Abarai-taichou_." Mocked Ichigo. Renji glared at him.

"It was a habit, okay?" Renji defended. Ichigo sighed.

"I wished she was here too, Renji." The two started to walk in silence.

* * *

. 

"Hinamori, Hinamori!" said Hitsugaya repetitively, trying to hold her down. Hinamori was thrashing around frantically in her sleep, her clothes was drenched in sweat.

"No, I don't want to! I can't!" She screamed over and over again. Hitsugaya picked her up and shook her forcefully.

"HINAMORI!" He yelled, successfully awakening her. Her eyes flung open. She saw his worried face looking down at her.

"Shiro-chan?" she coughed, her voice was weak and fragile. He had to strain to hear her. He held her close to him.

"Yes, I'm here." He reassured her.

A few moments later, Hinamori had calmed down. She sat there sipping a cup of tea. There was a knock at the door and Matsumoto entered, carrying with her a bundle of clothes. She set the clothes down next to Hinamori, gave her a quick hug then exited.

"Have a bath first, you'll feel better once you're all refreshed." Suggested Hitsugaya.

* * *

She did feel refreshed and a little better after she had a bath. She knelt down besides him on the floor. 

They were silent for a while.

After a moment, Hinamori stood up and walked towards the open window. She leaned against one side and hugged herself, looking at the moon. Hitsugaya got up and walked towards her. He stood about a metre behind her. Hinamori bit her lip then said quietly,

"Maybe we shouldn't be together anymore." Her voice barely above a whisper.

"What…did you say?" He whispered, he didn't want to believe what he just heard.

She turned around to look at him, tears threatened to fall but he could still see the determination in her eyes. She hesitated before she began again.

"I said that maybe we …" he cut her off.

"Don't." A tear fell down her face when she saw how hurt he was. She moved to explain.

"I'm only a liability to you. I put you in too much danger too many times. You take chances to protect me all the time and that's …"

"I take chances to protect you because I _love_ you." He said, as exasperated as he possibly could.

"That's why people can use me to get to you and they do! It's already been done twice!" She exclaimed, tears falling freely now. "Aizen was right about one thing – your love for me can kill you."

"That's my decision."

"Not if I have any part in it. How would you think I'd feel if something happened to you? Breaking up is the easiest way, you could move on. You'd be _safer_ that way." Hitsugaya scoffed. He couldn't believe his ears but he sure as hell wasn't going to take _any_ of this.

He walked right up to her and wrapped his arms around her. She struggled frantically to free herself but Hitsugaya was too strong. She did manage to move around so that her back was facing him though. Hitsugaya leaned in and rested his head near the curve of her neck.

"Listen to me Momo, breaking up would do nothing. I am not going to wake up one day and stop caring about you - that will never happen. I will always care about you. But if this is what you really want, if you really believe that one day _you_ can wake up and stop caring about me then okay, let's break up. But only if _you_ stop caring because I sure as hell won't … ever… stop…loving you." he turned her around and planted a soft, lingering kiss on her lips. Then he quickly turned and left for the door. He paused when he reached it.

"Tell me tomorrow what your decision is." He said, still facing the door. With that he left. Hinamori watched him leave and then slumped against the wall.

_Is it really not safer if we break up? _ She thought, _but if we break up, he may slowly become less protective of me and then risk less. If so, should I lie to him tomorrow and tell him that I don't want to be with him? What shall I do?

* * *

_

Hitsugaya was grateful for the new pile of paperwork on his desk. It would serve as a slight distraction and help him last throughout the night.

After a while he put his pen down and slumped back on his chair, unable to concentrate on his work.

He closed his eyes, a dull pain overwhelming him. _Please don't leave me Hinamori._ He begged inwardly.

Tonight would definitely be one of the longest nights of his life.

* * *

END OF PART TEN

* * *

**Next**: **Chapter 11: Lost Time**

Lol, there is a purpose for this drama, I swear!

**Please read and review.**


	11. Lost Time

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* * *

PART ELEVEN:** LOST TIME

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Thanks to all those who reviewed, especially those who review every time I update, I LOVE YOU PEOPLE!  
Gives you cookies, chocolate, Hitsugaya, Hinamori, Byakuya, Yachiru… 

**Author's notes:** Be assured that this series is going to have a **_happy ending_** but for now… : gets shot :  
_  
_

And yes, **Shinzaburo Michio** and **Fukushima Hoshiko** are my characters.

Michio means strength of three thousand, his zanpakuto – Soujuumaru was derived from the word 'manipulation'. Hoshiko apparently means child of the stars (or star child).

**Senkai-mon**: Door leading from soul society to the living world and vice versa.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any part of Bleach, manga or anime.

* * *

CHAPTER ELEVEN

* * *

_Thump thump, thump thump. _His heart raced as he approached the room, each step becoming heavier and heavier as he came closer and closer. Finally he was at the door - he took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment, then he quickly but gently slid the door open and walked in, taking care to close the door behind him as he entered. 

Hinamori was already waiting for him. She stood by the window, facing him, a melancholy expression etched on her face.

"Have you decided?" He asked, his heart pounding the rapid beat of drums.

"Yes." She said softly but firmly. She looked down for a moment, feeling his expectant gaze, then she raised her gaze to meet his. She was hesitant to speak, closing her eyes momentarily as she did so.

"I have decided that we should not be together anymore." She said gently, her eyes pleading with him to understand. Hitsugaya felt his heart rip, it was too painful for him to speak so he remained silent.

"Say something!" She demanded, unable to bear neither his silence nor the absolute look of despair in his eyes. She felt like breaking down and telling him that she didn't mean any of it, that she was only doing it because she loved him and wanted to keep him safe. But she bit her trembling lip to withhold her tongue, her eyes strained up at the ceiling to hold back her tears.

"You don't want to be with me then?" He asked. She flinched at how vulnerable he sounded. She had never seen him like this. Hinamori tilted her head upwards to stop the tears from escaping her eyes.

"I don't want to be with you." She heard herself saying. _Stop! It's not true, Shiro-chan. Don't believe it._ She yelled desperately within herself, somehow wishing that maybe he could hear it. But the logical side of her remained stubborn and no other words came out.

"Is this what you really want?" He asked softly. She nodded, unable to say anything anymore. He looked so _broken_, he's not even arguing with her.

_Clack. Clack. Clack._ A distant sound of a wooden board being hit continuously rang throughout Seireitai. It meant that an emergency situation had arisen and everyone was expected to return to their respective divisions.

Neither Hitsugaya nor Hinamori moved. Hitsugaya hadn't even flinched at the emergency bell, seemingly oblivious to it. But Hinamori knew that he heard it, she was observing his every move – no matter how subtle they were.

He tried to mask the immense pain that he was feeling and looked at her again.

"So I guess this is it then." He said sadly. He gave her one more long gaze before stepping quietly out of the room, closing the door behind him. _I'm sorry Hitsugaya-kun, but it's for your own good._ She thought, tears falling freely and silently now as she watched him go.

* * *

. 

"What's all this noise about?" asked a disheartened Hitsugaya.

"Taichou, you're here! Where the hell have you been? I've been looking all over for you! Never mind that now, there are a massive number of hollows that have been identified between the secret outer barrier and the normal protective barrier. They are expected to arrive in less then fifteen minutes now. We have been ordered to go to our designated positions, sir."

"What? Damn. Let's round up the division and get them there." He said, running towards the door. He stopped when he saw that Matsumoto was standing there looking amused at him. "What are you doing? We've only got less then fifteen minutes!"

"It's already done, sir. I took the initiative when I couldn't find you."

"Good. Let's get there at once."

* * *

_What the hell!_ Gasped Rangiku as she looked up around the sky. About fifty hollows had just broken through their barrier. What's worse was that they were accompanied by at least fifteen Menos Grande sized hollows. 

"Group two: take the north direction. Group three: take the north-east. Group four: take the east. Group five: take the south – east. Group six: take the south. Group seven – take the south west. Group eight: take the west. Group nine: take the north west. Remember to stay within your designated area, don't forget that the area outside your responsibility is covered by other divisions so just concentrate on eliminating the hollows in YOUR area! GO NOW!" commanded Hitsugaya.

"HAI, Taichou!"

"Group ten: you're on central guard. Matsumoto, your group comes with me!"

"Hai! Group one, follow captain!"

"Where are we going, taichou?" asked Matsumoto as she followed Hitsugaya.

"We're following Zaraki's defence plans, remember? Captains and their selected group will pursue the largest threats while the other groups will patrol their designated areas. We're aiming for one of the Manos Grandes-like hollows that are roaming free." Hitsugaya reminded her hastily.

They came in near distance with a giant hollow. Matsumoto saw Ichigo standing in front of it with his sword drawn. Hinamori was standing a few feet away, placing an arm out to stop the rest of her group from moving forward.

Matsumoto was about to go ahead to help them when Hitsugaya put out an arm to hold her back.

"Captain?"

"Leave them. There's another captain there, He will deal with it." He simply stated as he moved past them.

"But Hinamori…"

"She's Kurosaki's responsibility right now." He replied blatantly as he continued moving. Matsumoto stared curiously at her captain's back as she continued to follow him.

They reached an unguarded giant hollow. Hitsugaya unsheathed his sword and unleashed his shikai.

"Souten ni zase!" he yelled, calling forth the gigantic ice dragon. He aimed his sword towards the detested thing.

* * *

"I don't think I've studied your kind before." Said Captain Kurotsuchi Mayuri as he looked at the giant hollow, tilting his head to one side in slight amusement. 

"Kakimushire, Ashisogijizō." He commanded. His shikai successfully rendered the giant motionless and increased its receptivity of pain. Mayuri gleefully slashed at it.

* * *

"Jinteki Syakusetsu!" commanded Captain Soi Fong, "Suzumebachi."

* * *

"Chire, Senbonzakura." 

…

* * *

"Excellent defence plans, Zaraki Kenpachi. Well done. However, we will need to strengthen them. It is my first presumption that Aizen sent this poor excuse of an army of hollows to force us to reveal our new defence system. 

But this small gain will be his undoing.

I wonder if any of you other captains noticed but when Aizen sent his army of hollows, he unintentionally showed us a path in which we can reach him." He continued to explain his observations of how it could be managed to send an army of shinigamis to the land of the hollows.

"So this is how the plan will go. Divisions two, six, eight, ten and eleven will enter the land of the hollows. Division one, seven, twelve and thirteen will remain here to protect Soul Society. Division four shall remain here also. Division three, five and nine will go to the living world. While this is happening, the captains-in-training will continue the three-day-bankai program."

Yamamoto then proceeded to tell Ichigo what to do when he arrives at the living world.

"Is that clear, Kurosaki Ichigo."

"Yes, sir."

"Urahara, Renji?"

"Yes, sir." They confirmed their understanding.

"So be it then. This shall commence tomorrow at dawn."

* * *

. 

Hitsugaya walked reluctantly with Matsumoto into the food hall. He really wasn't hungry but Matsumoto had insisted that he eat, seeing as how they were expected to go to war tomorrow.

On arriving, Hitsugaya saw Hinamori sitting next to Ichigo. They had two plates in front of them. He quickly walked to the other side of the room, hoping to get there before Ichigo saw them. It was too late.

"Oi! Hitsugaya, Matsumoto! Over here!" He yelled out, waving his hand up in the air frantically. Hinamori seemed to have melted into her chair. Left with no other choice now that they were seen, Hitsugaya grudgingly trailed after Matsumoto towards Ichigo and Hinamori's table.

Hitsugaya glared at Matsumoto's back when she chose, deliberately he might add, to sit in the chair facing Ichigo – leaving him to sit facing Momo. He sat down silently and grudgingly, trying hard to avoid looking at her. There was awkward silence at first. Ichigo looked at Matsumoto, who looked back at him and shrugged. He tilted his head towards Hinamori, suggesting something. Matsumoto cleared her throat.

"Err, Hinamori-chan, we need to get more food. Can you come with me for a moment please?" She asked nervously, smiling a plaster smile.

"Sure, Matsumoto-san." She replied, a little confused. The two vice-captains left, leaving their respective captains behind. Hitsugaya leaned back on his chair, his arms crossed in front of him.

"So, Hitsugaya, what's up with you and Hinamori?" He asked.

"…"

"Did you two have a fight?"

"…"

Ichigo sighed. He wasn't going to get anywhere with this. A moment of silence past between them, then to his surprise, Hitsugaya spoke.

"I need to ask a favour."

"So ask."

"I need you to make sure that Hinamori doesn't go to the living world."

"That's kinda hard, she is the vice-captain."

"It'll be safer for her here, even if Seireitai gets attacked. She feels too much pressure when she is somewhere unfamiliar to her, and when she's under too much pressure she'll usually act rashly. That would put her in too much danger, especially when everyone else there will be concentrating on fighting other hollows."

"Isn't that the same around here? If it gets attacked, then everyone will be off fighting other hollows."

"But she knows this place well, she can find help more readily and easily here. If she gets into trouble there, what will happen if she can't find the way back for help?" Ichigo furrowed his eyebrows, thinking for a moment.

"Okay, but you know she won't stay just because I told her to stay." Hitsugaya tapped his closed hands on his chin for a while then answered him.

"You will need to find a reason for her to stay on her own will. Also, don't tell her about me leaving for the hollow world. It might distract her." Ichigo nodded his agreement.

"Thank you."

The girls were coming back now, both holding a plate of food each. They set it down on the table and sat back down. Matsumoto started chatting with Ichigo about the living world, asking him all sorts of weird questions. Hitsugaya was grateful though, a silent diiner would be way too unbearable to him under these circumstances.

He reached out to pick up a piece of sushi with his chopsticks and stopped when he saw another pair of chopsticks holding onto the other end. _How ironic, out of all the sushi there is on this plate, we had to pick the same one._ He thought with an internal grunt.

Their eyes contacted with each other and both felt a jolt of pain. Hinamori quickly withdrew her hand to set her chopsticks down on her plate. She was not so hungry anymore. Hitsugaya collected his shattered pieces up quickly and, realising that he was still holding onto the piece of sushi, he picked it up and smoothly placed it onto her plate. He then proceeded to pick up another piece of sushi and ate it, looking at nothing else but his plate. Hinamori moved her gaze from Hitsugaya to the piece of sushi he placed on her plate and blinked back tears. She picked it up and ate it very slowly, as if to savour it.

After they finished eating, the four of them moved outside for a walk. Matsumoto and Ichigo were still chatting on, leaving Hinamori and Hitsugaya to lag on silently behind them. Suddenly Matsumoto and Ichigo started whispering to each other, then on a nod they suddenly ran off.

"O…Oi!" shouted Hitsugaya. Hinamori stared bewilded at the two as they disappeared around the corner. Hitsugaya was fuming. _That Rangiku!_ He thought exasperatedly.

"I'll walk you to your room." Hitsugaya stated emotionlessly, walking off. Hinamori trailed slightly behind him.

The walk there was silent and awkward. Hitsugaya was deep in thought all the way. _I wonder if I'll make it back, _he thought, _I wonder if this is the last time I'll ever see her again._ Hinamori's voice broke his thoughts.

"Err, we are here. Thank you for walking me, Hitsugaya-taichou." She said politely, making him flinch inwardly at the formality. She looked at him for a moment then moved past him to step into her room.

He caught her wrist just as she was about to enter, causing her to turn back and look at him, confusion mixed with longing and hope on her face.

"I can't let you go…" He started, still holding on to her wrist.

She knew the moment he changed his mind.

"…without saying be careful." She gave a small smile and couldn't resist but lift her hand up to caress his face. His hands automatically went up to hold it there as he leaned into it. An unbearable sadness overwhelming them. She moved her arms around his neck and gave him a hug, then she quickly withdrew and walked inside her room, closing the door quickly but gently behind her.

Hitsugaya felt something wet drop onto his cheek and instinctively moved his hand to feel it. He rolled the wetness between his fingers.

"What a weird time to be raining." He said out loud to himself, then he walked away.

Ichigo stood on top of the roof with his arms folded protectively at his chest, watching Hitsugaya walk away. There was one thought in his head, w_hat rain?

* * *

_

The morning of the next day dawned. The three designated divisions for the living world stood in front of the Senkai-mon. On the other side, another five divisions prepared to enter the hollow's world.

The Senkai-mon was about to open in fifteen minutes. At the same time the gateway opens, the path leading to the Hollows will also be cleared. This synchronising tactic bought time for the shinigamis to approach the hollow's world without being detected for a while.

Hinamori stood next to Ichigo in front of the gateway, fiddling nervously. She was a bit distracted from not being able to find Hitsugaya anywhere before coming here.

"He's not here." Said Ichigo, looking ahead.

"Huh?"

"Hitsugaya is not here. He is on another mission."

"What other mission?" she asked, shocked to find out about it so late.

"At the same time that this door opens, another gateway will be opened. It will lead them to the hollows."

"What!" she whispered, her eyes widening at every word.

"Divisions two, six, eight, ten and eleven were ordered to enter the world and try their best to destroy them."

"But it's too dangerous, there's an army of Menos up there!" she shouted.

"We still have half an hour." He informed her, "He's on the other side, near the quadrant." She looked at Ichigo, then looked at the gate.

"I'll be back as soon as I can." She said hastily, then she took off towards the direction of the other group.

_I'm sorry Hitsugaya, I had to tell her. _He looked in front of him as the gateway began to open. _At least I kept the promise to keep her here._ He had kept it from Hinamori that for now, the gateway can not be activated except by two captains. And right now, all captains remaining in Seireitai was specifically ordered by Master Yamamoto to not activate it. However, the shinigami wishing to return to Seireitai can still do so.

The gateway opened fully and the three divisions went through.

Hinamori was running frantically through Seireitai when she heard an undeniable sound of the barrier being broken through. She looked up to see shinigamis ascending some near distance ahead. Hinamori jumped onto the roof and started running towards them.

She looked around desperately for Hitsugaya and finally spotted him about a hundred metres up into the sky at an angle of fifty degrees above her.

"Hitsugaya-kun, Hitsugaya-kun!" She called out frenetically to no avail.

"HITSUGAYA-KUN!" she screamed out at the top of her lungs, dropping on her hands and knees from the force. Her scream echoed loudly throughout Seireitai.

Hitsugaya turned around abruptly in his spirit ball when he heard her scream his name. He looked down, his eyes searching frantically for her. He finally saw her and his heart leapt at the image.

Hitsugaya allowed a small smile to form on his face as he said softly,

"Good bye, bed-wetter Momo."

* * *

END OF CHAPTER ELEVEN

* * *

This series will end happily, I promise. : dodges stones and bullets : 

**Next: Chapter 12: War of the Three Worlds** - Title is pretty self-explanatory.

I will most probably upload it with **Chapter 13: Showdown: Total Disillusionment **- Aizen's Bankai. Focused on three people: Hitsugaya, Byakuya & Ichigo.

**Please read and review.** AND THANKS HEAPS AGAIN FOR THOSE WHO DO! XD

* * *


	12. War of the Three Worlds

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* * *

**

**CHAPTER TWELVE:** War of the Three Worlds

* * *

Thanks to all those who reviewed, you people are awesome! 

**Author's notes:** Bear with me on this one: I'm not so experienced at writing fight scenes or war situations. XD

/… / In the past, memories

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any part of Bleach, manga or anime.

* * *

PART TWELVE

_

* * *

_Seireitai

* * *

Hinamori sat slumped against her bedroom wall, hugging her knees. She thought about the past events that happened with Hitsugaya and how stupid she was to break up with him, to let him leave thinking that she didn't want to be with him, perhaps even believe that she no longer loved him. _Baka Shiro-chan, after all we've been through together and you still believe that._ She thought sadly, drowning in the memories. 

/ She leapt up onto the roof…and promptly landed on the object of her mission. "Hit...Hitsugaya kun!" She exclaimed/

/ "Why are we going to see the ryokas again? That's Renji's job."

"Because you're not well. You haven't fully recovered from the injuries…" he was cut off.

"Yes I am!" said Hinamori indignantly.

"No you're not, I heard you cough this morning."

"I choked on tea!"

"See."/

/ "You already have a scarf on. Do you really need two?"

"It's not for me, silly." She said adoringly as she wrapped the scarf around his neck

"I can handle the cold." He said as he tried to take it off.

"Hitsugaya Toshiro", she said sternly. He looked at her, and then took his hands off the scarf.

"…H…Hai" He replied. /

/ "What makes her so important that the entire Gotei-13 had to rush to her aid?"

"Just because you weren't there to save _your _girlfriend, lay off_ mine_."

"Ptt…Rukia isn't Ichigo's girlfriend." Renji said defensively, and then the rest of the words dawned on him. He looked at them and said,

"You two are finally courting hey, about damn time as well. Congrats!"/

/ "I think we can do better than that." He said as he moved in towards her. Her heart beat faster as she closed her eyes in anticipation. It was a slight brush on the lips at first, Hinamori tingled from the sensation. They looked at each other for a second then closed their eyes again for a second kiss. This time it was deeper as their tongues touched. Hinamori subconsciously placed the back of her hand on his head to bring him closer/

/ "I got … scared."

"Scared, of what?"

"Of loosing you."

"Baka Hinamori" he scolded, "that would never happen."/

/ "I like you. A lot."/

/ "Promise me you'll never leave me then?"

"I promise."/

/ "Maybe we shouldn't be together anymore."/

/"I'm only a liability to you. I put you in too much danger too many times. You take chances to protect me all the time and that's …"

"I take chances to protect you because I _love_ you." /

/ "You don't want to be with me then?"

"I don't want to be with you."

"So I guess this is it then." /

/ Hitsugaya, realising that he was still holding onto the piece of sushi, picked it up and smoothly placed it onto her plate/

/ He caught her wrist just as she was about to enter, causing her to turn back and look at him, confusion mixed with longing and hope on her face.

"I can't let you go…" He started, still holding on to her wrist.

She knew the moment he changed his mind.

"…without saying be careful." /

_Clack, clack, clack._ The sound of the emergency board being hit brought Hinamori out of her reverie. She looked towards the closed door, thinking for a moment. Then she stood up with determination, picked her soul slayer up and strapped it to her hip then walked out of the room.

Outside was chaotic. Shinigamis were running around frantically, orders were been shouted in multi-directions. Hinamori looked up and realised what all the mayhem was about. The sky had opened and hollows were flowing endlessly out of it.

_Shiro-chan is up there_ Hinamori thought worriedly as she stared at the hole. _Maybe I could get up there._ With that in mind she started running towards the opening.

She came to as sudden halt as six hollows surrounded her. _I don't have time for this!_ She thought as she took out her soul cutter.

"Tobiume" She called, "Hajike!" Pink energy balls fired relentlessly out of her soul cutter. She aimed furiously at the hollows around her until the only ones that remained were the ones in front of her. She looked at them for a moment, her gaze filled with hatred and anger. She held her sword loosely to one side, and then she charged at them.

* * *

The Living World

* * *

"I—Chi—Go!" yelled Isshin as he leapt high into the air towards his son. Ichigo, on the other hand, was looking bored and disgusted and ready to retaliate. However, Karin beat him to it as she leapt up in the air to meet her father with a hard spin kick, successfully kicking him away from her elder brother. 

"Okaaaaaaasan! What shall I do with these disrespectful children?" Isshin cried out to the heavens, tears streaming down his face. "O why O why do they treat me li"

"Urusai na" commented Karin, looking unmoved by her dad's behaviour. Ichigo was looking a bit embarrassed at his dad's display in front of his subordinates. Isshin finally collected himself and looked around.

"Where's Kisuke?" He asked.

"He and Renji are at their designated post along with their respective divisions." Replied Ichigo, "this is our area."

Ichigo turned to his division. "You know what you have to do, go and patrol your areas. Remember not to trespass your areas, the other divisions has got it covered. But don't wait around like an idiot either for them to come, if there's one in front of you then kill it." He commanded. They affirmed his command and left, five shinigamis stayed with him.

A bloodcurdling scream came from the Kurosaki clinic. Everyone, except Ichigo, moved their heads in the direction of the house. A few moments later, Kon came running out of the house.

"Neeeeee-jannnn!" screeched the yellow plush toy, his little feet carrying him towards the little army of shinigamis … only to be kicked back by Ichigo.

"She's not here!" retorted Ichigo, eyebrows twitching. Then he realised something.

"Why are you _not_ in my body?" he asked.

"Karin-chan and Otousan thought he was too annoying so they took it out." Said Yuzu. Ichigo nodded, understanding their decision completely.

"How can nee-chan not be with you? How come you haven't rescued her yet!" rambled Kon. Ichigo clenched his fist, shaking from anger.

"Shut up!" He yelled, squashing Kon onto the pavement continuously with his foot. He was a _tad_ sensitive when it came to Rukia's abduction.

"Nii-san, what is that?" Asked Yuzu as she pointed to the sky. Ichigo turned his head to look at what she was pointing at and gasped.

"Yuzu, Karin, stay in the house and don't come out." He ordered his sisters, pushing them towards the house. He then turned to his group of death gods.

"Come with me!" He ordered, and then he took off towards the direction of the hollows, who were now flowing freely out of the hole in the sky.

"Wait Ichigo!" yelled Isshin, looking serious for once. "There is no way in hell that I'm going to let you fight _that_ alone!" He exclaimed, pointing towards the hole.

The sky peeled away like a piece of loose material as a Menos Grandes slowly made its way out. Ichigo stared in horror as another one came out, followed by yet another one. _Three Menos Grandes!_

By the time that Ichigo and his group had reached one, the others had already dispersed.

"Damn it!" Ichigo swore. _Actually, come to think of it, this is a good thing. We wouldn't have a good chance with three of these._ "Don't worry about the others, Urahara and Renji are here." _But still there was no time to waste._

His zanpakuto was already drawn. The Menos in front of him opened his mouth and let out a torrent of energy. Ichigo shielded himself with his sword held above him and then he released his own torrent of spiritual energy. His yellowish-orange torrent mixed with the Meno's orange-purple energy and for a while it was a battle of power. Eventually Ichigo's energy surpassed that of the Menos, and it hit it full force on it's mouth. The creature screeched in pain and started to attack blindly at Ichigo but by now Ichigo already had the upper hand.

"Getsugatensho, Zangetsu!" He commanded, the moment his shikai was released he swung his sword upwards, sending a torrent of energy along with it. The surge of energy sliced the Menos in half, causing it to dissipate into a million tiny pieces.

Isshin wiped some tears off his face. "That's my son" he said proudly. Then he burst out into tears. Ichigo looked at him dumb folded, his mouth slightly hanging open.

He spotted a Meno some hundred metres away from him and started to run towards it when he was stopped abruptly by a now serious Isshin.

"This is not what you have been ordered to do, Ichigo. Do what you have to do." Ichigo moved to protest but Isshin silenced him.

"I will take care of it, the others are here too. If you don't go now, it may be too late." He turned to face Ichigo and gave him a smug grin, "Besides, what kind of father would I be if I didn't help my son save my future daughter-in-law."

Ichigo was very grateful for his dad's help, but not enough to stop him from giving him a whack before he took off.

"Don't talk about that crap!" Ichigo yelled as he left. Isshin looked at his son go until he could no longer see him. He let out a sigh.

"Let's see how this goes down." Said Isshin as he observed the chaos around him. With that he took off towards the closest Menos.

* * *

The Land of the Hollows

* * *

"Damn it!" swore Hitsugaya as he dodged yet another attack from yet another hollow. _How many are there?_ It seemed that no matter how many he sliced down the number of hollows just wasn't decreasing. He looked over to his right to see Byakuya eradicating one hollow after one hollow, using his shunpo to appear in front of a target in a flash then reappear again in front of his next target. 

"Jinteki Syakusetsu, Suzumebachi!" yelled out Soi Fong, releasing her shikai. A moment later, it seemed as though the hollows around her were disappearing almost as fast as they were disappearing.

_No choice, I have to release my shikai or else the hollows will just keep coming_.

"Souten ni Zase, Hyourinmaru!" He called out. He moved his sword upwards in a motion similar to that of a whirlwind. The ice dragon swirled around him like a tornado, freezing hundreds of hollows who were caught in its sub-zero wrath, causing them to shatter into icy dust.

All around him, the shinigamis who had a shikai released them except for Kenpachi Zaraki, who seemed to be having way too much fun slicing up hollows.

After what seemed like an eternity, the number of hollows seemed to have died down. Hitsugaya turned to see Shunsui killing what occurred to be the last one. Everyone around him was exhausted, he could tell by the way they were panting. He looked around more thoroughly and observed that they had lost many fighters. It seemed like only half had survived this long. Another attack like that and only the captains and strongest fighters would survive.

"Menos Grande" whispered Matsumoto, looking around.

To everyone's horror, they were now surrounded by an army of Menos Grandes – literally encircled by them. There was about eight in the first circle, sixteen in the second followed by thirty two in the third and final circle.

The eight Menos in the first row opened their mouths and released their energy balls.

"MOVE BACK" commanded Hitsugaya to his division as he held his soul slayer up to deflect the energy surge. As he struggled against the torrent, he called on Hyourinmaru and released his shikai again. The blue dragon surged through the torrent and reached the Menos. _The first circle is down_ He observed as he looked around. But there was no time to waste. The captains immediately called on their bankai right after the first circle was decimated and subsequently destroyed the second and third circle. Sweat dripped off their brows and the ache in their limbs intensified. But no one dropped their guard. Instead they waited for the dust of battle to settle down so they could see what was happening.

The dust settled and the remaining shinigamis fell into despair – the eradication of the three circles did not even make a dent in the army of Menos Grandes, there were thousands.

The energy balls came again and once again the captains and vice-captains tried to deflect them the best they could.

Hitsugaya heard Matsumoto cough and turned just in time to see her cough out some blood. His eyes widened and he moved to be in front of her.

"Are you okay, Matsumoto!" He asked.

"I'm fine, taichou." She answered weakly. _Fighting an army of menos is too much for those under the captain class._ Thought Hitsugaya dejectedly as he moved to block another energy ball.

Subordinates around them were dying – either from being hit by a blast or too spiritually weakened to fight any longer. It was a loosing fight.

"BANKAI: DIVINE INTERVENTION, SOUJINNMARU!"

The remaining survivors turned inwardly to see Fukushima Hoshiko and Shinzaburo Michio arise in the centre. Shinzaburo's flashing sword suddenly illuminated the entire space with a white blinding light. Suddenly chaos erupted as spirit balls were flying everywhere. No one single shinigami moved, the stood their and gasped. Shinzaburo had made the inner circle of Menos fight against each other. A roaring sound came above the Menos. The army of Vaizards had appeared at last.

Further along, somewhere in the far distance just past the Vaizard's radius, erupted a circle of sabre blue light enlarging from the same spot. The circles engulfed whatever was in its path, clearing the way to show Ishida and Ryuuken standing back to back. They drew their bows again, this time the blue light formed not an arrow, but more of a horizontal semi-circle.

_We are saved!_ Thought many shinigamis. The captains, however, had other things on their minds. _Fukushima is here, it is time to get the plan into action._ They sank back down in the black floor of the forsaken land and let the darkness engulf them, knowing that it would take them where they are aiming for – Aizen. From there they would take their positions to form the pentagon of disillusionment.

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The captains arose from the darkness into a bright light. It seemed as though the light only shone on them for all they could see was darkness around them. 

Hitsugaya peered around. There was no one else here. _This is strange_, he thought.

A high pitched scream pierced through the silence. Hitsugaya turned to its direction abruptly, eyes widened. _I know that voice. Hinamori!_ He started running as fast as he could towards it, worry becoming him. _Please don't let anything happen to her_ he thought feverishly as he quickened his pace.

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_Hmm, this is strange._ Thought Byakuya as he stood in front of a large gate. He pushed it open with ease and walked inside to find himself standing before a large palace. The halls within were luxuriously decorated – nothing that he, Kuchiki Byakuya, was not accustomed to of course. 

A lit up room towards the end of the long hall way was all that stood out in the darkly lit hall. Byakuya moved towards it. As he approached it, he felt a familiar tinge tug at his heart. He thrust the door opened and his eyes widened.

There was a lot of blood on the floor. Byakuya just stood there, staring at the lifeless form on the floor that was once his sister, Rukia. Kneeling over her was a lady dressed in a pink kimono. She turned to face him. He stepped back one step, his usually composed self now in shock.

"Hisana?" He asked, voice just a whisper.

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Ichigo was annoyed, no, he was more than annoyed – he was pissed off. How the hell was he suppose to be part of this pentagon thingy when he had no idea where he was? He couldn't even see anything. 

He continued walking until he saw a small light in the darkness. He ran towards it, the light became larger and larger until he was finally engulfed by it.

He blinked his eyes a few times until he could see. His eyes widened, _this is…this is the place where mum got killed so many years ago. Why am I here all of a sudden?_

"Ichigo." Said a gentle voice behind him. _No it couldn't be, she's dead._ Ichigo turned around ever so slowly and gasped out loud. There, standing right before him, was his mother. He looked desperately behind her to see if the Grand Fisher was there but he wasn't.

"Okaa…san?" He whispered in disbelief.

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END OF PART TWELVE

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**Next****: Chapter 13 - Showdown: Total Disillusionment**

Please read and review. Thanks for everyone who does!


	13. Showdown Part 1: Ichigo's Fight

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CHAPTER THIRTEEN:** Showdown Part 1: Ichigo's Fight

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Thanks to all those who reviewed! To **Lunamet** I will definitely read all reviews. Thanks for reviewing.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any part of Bleach, manga or anime.

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**13:1 - Ichigo's Fight**

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Ichigo was annoyed, no, he was more than annoyed – he was pissed off. How the hell was he supposed to be part of this pentagon thingy when he had no idea where he was? He couldn't even see anything. 

He continued walking until he saw a small light in the darkness. He ran towards it, the light became larger and larger until he was finally engulfed by it.

He blinked his eyes a few times until he could see. His eyes widened, _this is…this is the place where mum got killed so many years ago. Why am I here all of a sudden?_

"Ichigo" Said a gentle voice behind him. _No it couldn't be, she's dead._ Ichigo turned around ever so slowly and gasped out loud. There, standing right before him, was his mother. He looked desperately behind her to see if the Grand Fisher was there but he wasn't.

"Okaa…san?" He whispered in disbelief. The figure smiled sweetly at him.

"It can't be…you're…you died…" Ichigo couldn't move, he was stuck there, just staring at her. She started to walk towards him. He still couldn't move, he just continued staring at her. She stood in front of him and slowly lifted her hand up to touch his face. He felt her gentle touch and suddenly he was a little boy again – the boy who didn't care what happened as long as his mother was there with him.

"It's been a long time, my son" she said with tears in her eyes as she continued to caress his face, just like she used to when he was a little boy.

"You died" He whispered in reply, it was neither a statement nor a question, or perhaps both. Then it hit him.

"You're a…"

"Yes" she nodded with a smile, "a spirit." Ichigo's eyes widened in realisation. Why hadn't he thought of it before, his mother would have gone to soul society after she died.

"Why aren't you in soul society, why are you here?" He asked. Masaki looked down sadly for a moment then met his gaze again.

"The victims of the Grand Fisher can't escape. They are trapped in a representation of where they died in the hollow world. They will neither go to soul society nor become a hollow." She smiled a melancholy smile at him.

"You have to go, Ichigo. I will show you the way." Ichigo tensed up.

"Like hell I'm going to leave you here. No matter what, I'm going to get you out."

"Ichigo, you have to go. Its dangerous here!" she pleaded, but Ichigo wasn't listening, instead he was looking around. _The Grand Fisher, if I kill him its victims should be set free._

A loud noise erupted from above.

"Ichigo! Go now!" His mother pleaded with him, looking frantically back and forth at her son and the moving sky.

"No." Replied Ichigo, stubborn as ever. He was determined, his decision was adamant. "Stay behind me, Okaasan." He ordered gently as he took out his Zanpakuto. Without warning he released his shikai and sent a surge of energy directly in front of him. A subtle outline moved and reappeared closer to him, slowly revealing itself.

"Finally decided to show your cowardly face huh, Grand Fisher?" He said evenly, his voice dripping with hatred.

"You again. You must either be really brave or really stupid to come after me in my territory." As soon as the words left its mouth, five hair-like tentacles shot out towards him. Ichigo cut them with ease, diverting their direction away from his mother.

Once he was sure that she was out of harm's way, he ran towards him, jumped and took a swipe. The Fisher jumped back in retaliation, shooting out more tentacles at the rather pissed off shinigami. Ichigo dodged left and right then jumped high above him, his sword raised up high. His eyes were wide and his expression ferrel as he brought his sword down at the Fisher's head. The Fisher let out a gasp of surprise then quickly dodged Ichigo's attack. But he wasn't fast enough - Ichigo had anticipated his dodge and foreshadowed the Fisher's steps. The hollow let out a blood-curdling howl as the sword connected with its body. Ichigo continued to scythe the blade through until he could no longer do so. He back flipped and landed steadily a few feet in front of the detested hollow, his sword held loosely by his side as he stared at it, anger boiling his blood inside.

After a moment, Ichigo gripped his sword tightly then ran towards the Fisher. He was about to reach him when the Fisher used his bait and placed it in front of him. Ichigo skidded to a halt, eyes wide.

"Ru…Rukia" And sure enough, there in front of him, stood Kuchiki Rukia.

There was a moment's hesitation. But that was all the Grand Fisher needed. Five hairy tentacles shot out at the still stunned Ichigo.

"ICHIGO!" Ichigo snapped out of his reverie at his mother's scream. He dropped down to the ground, rolling on impact to the right. The tentacles passed him then retreated back to its owner. He got up and ran towards his enemy, hating him more then ever now for using Rukia's image.

The Grand Fisher intercepted his attack by putting the bait masquerading as Rukia in his path. Ichigo stopped again, and looked at it again for a moment. Sure he had seen her sad before, seen her annoyed, angry, frustrated, hurt, but never had he seen such a pitiful expression on her face. The doll looked sadly at him, but the illusion only worked while the victim still believed in it. And he sure as hell wasn't going to fall for this again.

Without warning, he called out his shikai and sent out an energy surge. The torrent ripped through the doll then proceeded to tear the Grand Fisher apart in the middle. The Fisher screamed and thrashed about in pain.

"Don't give such a pathetic expression on the face of the woman I lo…know."

He watched as his enemy, the enemy who had killed his mother, who forced him into hell on earth, dissipated into a million particles. A victorious surge overcame him. He felt free at last, not only had he avenged his mother's death, he had also freed her.

But what was this unfamiliar feeling in him. He recalled his last sentence to the Grand Fisher - he had almost said that he loved her. He scoffed inwardly, _that's impossible. I can't have possibly fallen for that rough, ill-mannered girl._ But another voice objected and challenged him, reminding him of the pang he had felt in his heart at the sudden appearance of Rukia, of seeing her like that even though it was just a fake.

"Ichigo" called Masaki softly. Ichigo turned to look at her then gasped. She was fading away - her once solid-looking spirit was now translucent.

She walked slowly towards him and pulled him into a tight hug, tears running down her face. Ichigo closed his eyes as he hugged her back. He was no longer fifteen years old now; he had reverted back to the little mother's boy like he was a long time ago. He felt her smile as she said, "I am so proud of you, Ichigo. Of all of you. Tell your sisters and your father that I am so proud of them and that I will always love them."

She stepped back, slowly backing away from him.

"I'm sorry" Ichigo blurted out. "It was my fault that you died." Masaki smiled and shook her head gently.

"It was not your fault, Ichigo, and I have never blamed you for it, not once."

"I love you, my son." For once, Ichigo found that he could smile absolutely freely, and he did so to her.

"I love you, mom." She smiled a sweet smile that made Ichigo content.

She was standing at the exact same spot that they were standing in six years ago, just before Ichigo was tricked into saving the girl. It was ironic, how the whole event started and ended in the exact same place. The image of his mother smiling at him as she faded away burnt itself into his memories. He diverted his gaze from where she used to be and looked at the sky. A bittersweet smile forming on his face. It had finally stopped raining.

The representation of the once dreaded place faded to reveal the real panorama of the hollow's world. The once sun soaked sky Ichigo was staring at a moment early was now pitch black. The ground was made of stones, dirt and pebbles. A reddish yellow light reflected off them from nowhere, creating a western style castle like feeling only without walls. Without anything, as a matter of fact. It was just empty space.

A purple circle appeared on the floor near him. Two lines surged from the circle. _The pentagon is forming. It seems that Fukushima was successful after all. I better get into position.

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**END OF CHAPTER 13 PART ONE  
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**Next Part:** Byakuya's Fight 

Hitsugaya's Fight is after that. Both should be up soon.

**Please read and review**


	14. Showdown Part 2: Byakuya's Fight

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**CHAPTER THIRTEEN Part Two: **Byakuya's Fight

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Thanks to all those who reviewed, it makes me very happy! XD 

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any part of Bleach, manga or anime.

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**13:2 BYAKUYA'S FIGHT

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_Hmm, this is strange._ Thought Byakuya as he stood in front of a large gate. He pushed it open with ease and walked inside to find himself standing before a large palace. The halls within were luxuriously decorated – nothing that he, Kuchiki Byakuya, was not accustomed to of course.

A lit up room towards the end of the long hall way was all that stood out in the darkly lit hall. Byakuya moved towards it. As he approached it, he felt a familiar tinge tug at his heart. He thrust the door opened and his eyes widened.

There was a lot of blood on the floor. Byakuya just stood there, staring at the lifeless form on the floor that was once his sister, Rukia. Kneeling over her was a lady dressed in a pink kimono. She turned to face him. He stepped back one step, his usually composed self now in shock.

"Hisana?" He asked, voice just a whisper. The figure slowly got up to face him. An angry look on her face.

"You promised, Byakuya-sama. You promised me you'd protect her!" She said accusingly. She continued to walk towards him, Byakuya backed away a little.

"I trusted you" she spat out, "and what did you do? You tried to execute her. Then she was kidnapped." She looked over at Rukia's lifeless form.

"And now she's dead." Her voice wavered, tears flowing freely now. She looked back at him. Never in his days with her had he ever seen the hatred that now spread across the features of his wife. It pained him, along with the guilt. He looked over at Rukia. _I'm sorry, Rukia._

"I tried, Hisana." He said, his voice deeper than usual. She moved to him, her fist pounding consistently on his chest. He let her. The hits came slower and slower as Hisana broke down, eventually clinging onto his black haori.

"Why didn't you look after her?" she sobbed. Byakuya pulled her into him and placed an arm around her to comfort her. He closed his eyes as she sobbed uncontrollably. _Is it really you Hisana?_ He thought. The image of Rukia re-entered his head. _I'm so sorry Hisana, Rukia._ He felt some movement coming from Hisana, it was quite brief, like a grain in the sands of time but he was definite he felt it.

Byakuya's eyes flung open just in time to swiftly evade an attack. His face emotionless as he watched Hisana standing a few feet away from him. She stared back at him, a knife in her hand, her face displayed a rabid expression, equal parts anger and hate. Byakuya winced inwardly at the mindless hatred that this _demon_ masquerading as his wife brought to the face of the only woman he'd ever adored. He was sure of it now, she was not his wife - not a spirit either, it was entirely not her. He knew his wife, he knows how she would act, and this was definitely not it.

A malicious smile dawned on its face as the demon came to realise that the illusion is no longer believed. It decided to keep its appearance nonetheless, _it could have its advantages_.

It lunged at him again. Byakuya moved swiftly out of the way. He was having an internal war – he could not bring himself to draw his sword on his wife's image. So he evaded the attacks, dodging and using his shunpo.

"You can't evade me forever, Byakuya-sama." The demon said sweetly, still using Hisana's voice. Byakuya cringed inwardly. _You will pay_ he thought as he evaded the demon's attacks once again, _you will pay for using Hisana's image._ The blood in him boiled as the anger built up.

The demon came at him again. This time when Byakuya dodged his attack, he stumbled over the fallen form of his sister. A realisation hit him, _I can no longer waste any more time here, sorry Hisana, but I will keep my promise to protect Rukia._

He allowed himself the luxury of indulging in his wife's form for one moment. He really missed her, and he was man enough to admit it. Slowly he unsheathed his sword and held it in front of him.

"Chire, Senbonzakura." He commanded smoothly. His soul cutter glowed pink then dispersed into a thousand deadly cherry blossoms. It created a bittersweet imagery as the blossom blades surrounded her.

Byakuya closed his eyes and only opened them when he heard the sound of her scream turn into that of the demons'. His eyes were filled with venom as he watched the demon being shredded by a thousand blades.

By the time the blades recomposed his sword again, there was nothing left but a bloody mass on the floor where the demon stood. Byakuya sheathed his sword and turned his back on the fading background.

A moment later, he observed a line no doubt forming the outline of the pentagon. Silently he walked off towards his destination.

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**END OF CHAPTER THIRTEEN PART TWO**

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Sorry if this was a bit short but chapter 13 was supposed to be one long chapter. I had to split it or else I would never get to update. 

**Next: Showdown Part 3 - Hitsugaya's Fight**

**Please read and review. Thanks so much again for those who have! XD

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	15. Showdown Part 3: Hitsugaya's Fight

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**CHAPTER THIRTEEN Part 3: Hitsugaya's Fight

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Thanks to all those who reviewed!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any part of Bleach, manga or anime.

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**13:3 HITSUGAYA'S FIGHT**

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Hitsugaya peered around. There was no one else there. _This is strange_, he thought. 

A high pitched scream pierced through the silence. Hitsugaya turned to its direction abruptly, eyes widened. _I know that voice. Hinamori!_ He started running as fast as he could towards it, worry becoming him. _Please don't let anything happen to her_ he thought feverishly as he quickened his pace.

He loomed into darkness and ran blindly. In the far distance, he could see a spot of light. As he ran closer he saw Hinamori cutting through a hollow, successfully eradicating it. She was panting heavily. He stopped short of the circle of light and stood in the shallow shadows.

She turned around and saw him, a large smile embraced her face. She ran towards him and threw her arms around him. He returned the embrace automatically.

"I was so scared." She said, burying her head inside his neck. He held her closer.

"It's okay now. I'm here, I won't let anything happen to you."

"No, I meant I was scared for you." She said gently. He held her tighter but was disturbed by the feeling inside him. It was a feeling of _unfamiliarity_, he loves Hinamori but right now he felt no connection with the woman he was embracing.

"TOSHIRO, GET AWAY FROM HER!"

Hitsugaya whipped his head around in confusion to see _Hinamori_ running towards him. _What the?_

Then he felt it. A sudden sharp pain piercing through his lower chest. He looked down. _Blood? Whose blood is that? Is it mine?_ He turned around to see a smug 'Hinamori', then turned around to see his Hinamori running desperately towards him. His vision blurred then refocused then blurred. The demon withdrew her sword with a quick wrench.

"NO!" Hinamori screamed, stopping abruptly. As she saw him fall, her legs autonomously resumed running. She slid and caught him just as he was about to hit the ground. She held him protectively into her as she glared at the demon.

"Well, this wasn't part of the plan." It mused, then shrugged it off. "I guess I'd just have to kill you both then." Anger built up quickly in Hinamori. She kissed Hitsugaya on the forehead then gently and slowly laid him down onto the floor. The she stood up and moved away from him.

The demon turned to face her. It observed her for a moment then morphed into Hitsugaya's form. Hinamori expected no less from it. It won't affect her as much, seeing as how the real Hitsugaya was right beside her. _I've had one too many experiences fighting the real Hitsugaya, fighting a fake one should be no problem._ The two stared at each other for a few moments. Hitsugaya clutched his wound as he forced himself into a sitting position.

"Don't move, Hitsugaya." She ordered him, her voice stern. _I will protect you this time._

The two opponents ran at each other at the same time, their swords clashing repeatedly.

As their swords clashed once more, Hinamori tried a different tactic and slid her sword down the length of the opponent's sword, eventually cutting its hand. The demon released the sword. Hinamori caught it. The demon retaliated and kicked the swords out of her hands then proceeded to successfully kick her in the stomach with enough force to make her double over. It strode over to her again to deliver another kick. Hinamori recoiled, catching its foot at the heel and pulling it. The demon fell straight on its back. Hinamori lunged over towards the swords and picked tobiume up. The demon sprang to its feet.

They circled each other for a moment then Hinamori charged at the demon and delivered three consecutive swings. The first one went above its head as it ducked while the second swiped the air a few centimetres from its upper body. In the third blow, Hinamori dropped down and swung her sword. The blade connected with the side of the demon's waist. She slid her zanpakuto through with a yell. The demon screamed and dissipated.

Hinamori fell onto the floor, panting. Her chest hurt from the exertion. It seemed like Aizen's blow hadn't completely healed yet. She started coughing.

A moment later, she felt a hand tug at her robe and turned around.

"Hitsugaya-kun!" She exclaimed, quickly moving to place his head on her lap. She observed the blood trail _He crawled over to me._

"Are you okay?" He asked weakly.

He felt wet droplets falling on his face and moved his head to see Hinamori crying.

"What's wrong, Hinamori?"

"What's wrong!" she cried exasperatedly. "Look at you!" She wiped her tears with her sleeves.

A moment of silence passed between them.

"So much for breaking up to not get me hurt, huh?" He chuckled at the irony, wincing at the pain the movement caused him. She hit him softly on the arm.

"It's not funny!" She retorted.

"Hey Hitsugaya, when I broke up with you that morning, why did you not fight back? Why did you not say anything?" She asked softly.

Hitsugaya closed his eyes. "Because it was what you wanted." Hinamori started to cry softly again.

"Baka Hitsugaya." She sobbed.

"Was it…not true then?" He asked, daring to hope. _Calm down Hitsugaya, this is _not_ the time to get your heart beating faster._

"Everything I said that time was not true." She replied.

"So, you want to be with me then?" He asked.

She answered him by bending down and kissing him on the lips. _I wish we could stay like this forever_ he thought, _though perhaps without the pain._ Her lips slowly left his lips and trailed up to his forehead.

"You're mine forever, Hitsugaya Toshiro." She murmured against him. She rested her head on his forehead. Hitsugaya moved his head slightly and kissed her again, smiling against her.

After a while, he looked around him, his expression serious.

"The pentagon has been formed, Momo." Her eyes widened.

"You can't be serious! You're still going to be part of it even though you're this hurt? You could die!" She shook her head violently, "No! I absolutely forbid you." She said stubbornly, crossing her arms at her chest. Hitsugaya chuckled despite the situation. _She's so adorable when she's stubborn._

He tried to get up.

"What do you think you're doing!" She cried out exasperatedly.

"I have to go, you know I have to do this Momo, the victory of the war depends on it." He looked her in the eye.

"But you're hurt." She argued weakly, her resolve breaking.

"I can do it with your help." He tried to get up again but this time Hinamori assisted him. Together they followed the purple line.

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END OF CHAPTER THIRTEEN PART THREE

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Hehe, this really should have been called "Hinamori's Fight" but that would have given it away... 

**Next****: Chapter 13:4 - Showdown: The Pentagon**

**Please review** Thanks heaps again for those who do! XD


	16. Showdown Part 4: The Pentagon

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**CHAPTER 13 Part 4:** Showdown – The Pentagon

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Thanks to all those who reviewed!

**Kuro – Ippikiookami21**: "_But wouldn't Hitsugaya feel the reiatsu, so he'd know if it's Hinamori or not..?_" Let's just say that she hid her spiritual pressure for safety… Thanks for bringing that up. XD

**Author's note:** This is the last part for chapter 13, finally. This is unbetaed so there may be mistakes.

/…/ _Flashbacks_ The flashbacks are from chapter 12 but the full version instead

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any part of Bleach, manga or anime.

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**CHAPTER THIRTEEN: FINAL SHOWDOWN

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His sword swiped swiftly down towards Aizen's neck and stopped just less then a centimetre from it.

"It's over, Aizen Sousuke." Stated Urahara as he looked down at him. Aizen looked up at him, tired but not defeated, never defeated. He laughed a soft and maniacal laugh.

"It takes more than a knife to my throat to bring me down, Urahara Kisuke." He replied smoothly. Urahara's features were unmoved.

"That's why I said it's over." He sheathed his sword and, using shunpo, disappeared out of Aizen's sight into the fog.

Aizen peered around. _What are you up to, Urahara?_ He thought suspiciously as he got up. An eerie noise broke the silence. Aizen spun around frantically, trying to find the origin of the sound but all he could see was fog. _Why can't I see anything? _Realisation hit him, _this is my illusion technique - someone is reflecting it back at me so I have no idea what is going on around me, but Urahara was real. What is going on!_

The realisation enabled him to break through the illusion, seeing as illusions only work as long as the victim believed them. However, instead of dissolving slowly as usual, the illusion shattered into a million pieces then dissipated into the air – much like what happens when a hollow is eradicated. Unease built up in Aizen but he remained calm.

As the shattered pieces disappeared into the air, Aizen identified a moving light. It was purple and seemed to be moving at a fast speed. When everything was cleared, he turned around to observe his surroundings. _The light seems to be making a shape around me, a diamond?_ He turned to follow the moving light with his eyes. It was approaching its point of origin, obviously about to join with it to complete whatever shape was forming around him.

The moment the line touched the origin, its light grew brighter and brighter until Aizen was momentarily blinded by its purple luminosity. When the light finally dimmed, he found himself surrounded by five captains – each stationed at one of the five points of a pentagon. He was trapped.

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/ _"Excellent defence plans, Zaraki Kenpachi. Well done. However, we will need to strengthen them. It is my first presumption that Aizen sent this poor excuse of an army of hollows to force us to reveal our new defence system. _

_But this small gain will be his undoing._

_I wonder if any of you other captains noticed but when Aizen sent his army of hollows, he unintentionally showed us a path in which we can reach him." He continued to explain his observations of how it could be managed to send an army of shinigamis to the land of the hollows._

"_So this is how the plan will go. Divisions two, six, eight, ten and eleven will enter the land of the hollows. Division one, seven, twelve and thirteen will remain here to protect Soul Society. Division four shall remain here also. Division three, five and nine will go to the living world. While this is happening, the captains-in-training will continue the three-day-bankai program." His paused for a moment, his tone going deeper._

"_I have invoked the assistance of the Demon Art Brigade to defeat Aizen. Urahara has informed me that when one uses the Hyougoku, even without utilizing its full power, the user will become united with it. Therefore we must destroy the Hyougoku if we are to defeat Aizen."_

"_How do we destroy the Hyougoku?" Asked various captains at once._

"_That is what I am going to tell you. Listen carefully: a single mistake can lead to failure of destroying the item. If the Hyougoku detects a threat towards its existence, it will release its full power into its current konpaku."_

"_So that's why Aizen is using the four month purification period instead – it was too risky for him to unleash its full power within his own body."_

_Yamamoto nodded then continued._

"_Fukushima Hoshiko will trap Aizen in an illusion to make him believe that everything is going well. During this time, the Brigade will form the pentagon around Aizen. However, someone is needed to distract Aizen from realising that he is being trapped in an illusion. Urahara, this is where you step in."_

"_But sir, I am ordered to go to the living world." Replied Urahara._

"_And you will go, but I will fill you in on that after I have explained the plan. So Urahara, you will fight Aizen to distract him but you will not be trapped in the illusion with him. Withdraw as soon as the line forming the pentagon reaches its second last point - the others will take it from there." He looked at the five captains that will be there._

"_Soi Fong, Byakuya, Shunsui, Ichigo and Hitsugaya – you will form the five points of the pentagon. Zaraki, you will need to remain where the battle against the hollows is taking place."_

"_But sir, I'm going to the living world as well." Said Ichigo._

"_I will get to that point later, Kurosaki." Yamamoto replied slightly impatiently. He continued._

"_When you are all in position, the pentagon will temporarily blind you with its light. Do not do anything, and I stress anything, until the pentagon shines yellow. This may take a while depending on the Brigade."_

"_But during this waiting period, wouldn't Aizen be able to escape?"_

"_No, once the pentagon is formed around him, he would be drawn into the centre circle from which he cannot walk out of. The moment the pentagon shines yellow, the five of you are to release your bankai into the circle on which you are standing on. It would then absorb your attack and transfer it into the centre circle."_

"_Isn't that overkill?" Asked Unohana._

"_It's just perfect." Remarked Zaraki._

"_The Hyougoku demands such an attack." Yamamoto sighed, and then he became even more serious._

"_You must be careful. The plan will fail if any captain releases their attack with less then perfect emotional stability. Don't let your emotions blind you. Remember, Aizen knows this so he would use any possible method to trip you. Keep in mind that this is his agenda and don't listen to him. Be reminded again that if the pentagon fails, Aizen will receive the complete power of the Hyougoku. At that time, nothing can defeat him."_

_The was a moment of silence as the information replayed itself over again in their mind._

_Yamamoto then proceeded to tell Ichigo what to do when he arrives at the living world._

"_Ichigo, Urahara and Renji – you will go to the living world as planned and lead your division with you. Ichigo, your squad will be responsible for the area around which you live. However, once you give your commands and check that everything in your area is in order, you must enter the hollow's land. To do this, you must enter from where ever the hollows are entering by using a modified spirit ball. Is that clear, Kurosaki Ichigo."_

"_Yes sir."_

"_Urahara – you will do the same as Ichigo except for your area. Renji – you will remain in the living world with Yoruichi and Isshin. Is that understood, you two?"_

"_Yes sir." They confirmed their understanding._

"_So be it then. This shall commence tomorrow at dawn."_/

* * *

_The Pentagon huh,_ thought Aizen as he observed his surroundings, _this could work to my advantage._ He looked around and smiled to himself when he saw Hinamori standing behind Hitsugaya.

"This is a funny sight, wouldn't you say so, Hinamori?"

"Leave her alone Aizen." He warned. Aizen ignored him and continued.

"I seem to recall a time when you cared more about me then you did about Hitsugaya-kun. Isn't it ironic now how you are helping him fight for my death when at that time you were fighting _him_ to avenge my death?"

Hitsugaya growled.

"And over a piece of paper too! You were willing to _kill_ your beloved childhood friend for _me_. Doesn't that make you feel cheated huh Hitsugaya?" He exclaimed amusingly, a smug expression appeared on his face.

"Doesn't it just kill you to know that I meant more to her than you did?"

"Shut up Aizen!" yelled Hitsugaya, he was fuming with anger.

"Ignore him Hitsugaya, it's not true." Declared Hinamori. Aizen laughed.

"What have I said that is not true? Did you not try to kill him because you believed he killed me? Did you not believe me over him?" He rebuked her.

"That's not fair!" She retorted back at him. "I was confused. I didn't know what to believe." Her voice came out soft - weak in its argument.

"But in the end you chose to believe _me_. Tell me, how did you feel when Hinamori pointed her sword at you Hitsugaya?"

Hitsugaya glared at him but beneath the glare, Hinamori could tell that some of the words had hit home, and Aizen knew it too.

"Shiro-chan" She said softly, trying to get through to him. "Don't believe him, you know how much I love you."

Unfortunately for her, Aizen heard and let out a laugh.

"I see, so you two are a couple now. You should thank me then, Hitsugaya-kun. If I didn't do what I did then she wouldn't have chosen you. Do you honestly believe that she would still be with you now if I hadn't left? I'll tell you this, until the moment I stuck a sword through her chest, she only had eyes for me."

"You're delusional." Hinamori muttered.

"Oh? Am I now?" He asked. Hinamori looked away.

"You took Hitsugaya for granted because he was always there for you – to protect you, to comfort you – he was always available for you, he made himself that way. But you became ignorant of that when you became infatuated with me. Now that I'm gone, you realised that he's still there. How can this be love when it is clearly reliance?" continued Aizen smoothly, trying to rub it into Hitsugaya even more.

Hinamori took a moment to think back to what they had been through and then shook her head lightly.

"It's true that I believed you over Hitsugaya and that I fought him for you. It may also be true that I was ignorant at times." She admitted. Hitsugaya closed his eyes, he knew as much but hearing it from her brought upon him an indescribable pain.

"But it is also true that I was too confused at that time to think about what I was doing. As to your comment about my feelings being only reliance, I know what I feel and I can tell you with the upmost certainty that it is not simply reliance." She replied honestly and forcefully whilst glaring at Aizen.

Hinamori then adverted her gaze to Hitsugaya. He was looking down at the circle now, his silence disturbed her. Aizen smiled triumphantly inside. He then turned on his next victim, for assurance.

"Kuchiki Byakuya, how does it feel to have attempted to take your own sister's life?" Byakuya looked at him impassively in reply.

Aizen smirked and was about to say more when the pentagon suddenly brightened then turned yellow. Byakuya brought his zanpakuto up.

"I am going to enjoy taking your life, Aizen Sousuke." He remarked smoothly as he balanced the tip of the sword on the floor.

"Senbonzakura Kageyoshi, Hakuteiken." The circle Byakuya stood on illuminated, a surge of pink energy surged through the line connecting to Aizen. At the same time, the other captains had also released their bankai. Their attacks travelled through the line and were absorbed by Aizen's circle.

Nothing happened for a moment.

Then in an abrupt moment a torrent of mixed energies tunnelled Aizen then dissipated. One by one the attacks followed, bankai after bankai. In the last two attacks, Hitsugaya's Daiguren Hyourinmaru had frozen Aizen, along with the Hyougoku. His attack was followed swiftly by Byakuya's bankai as the petal blades swarmed in on him.

When the attacks had died down, all that remained was the bloody puddle of Aizen on the circle.

"The Hyougoku!" exclaimed Soi Fong, pointing at the device hovering above Aizen's remains.

"Don't worry about it. It's over." Said Urahara, looking at his invention without the slightest hint of regret for its upcoming destruction.

Streams of light broke out from the Hyougoku until it ruptured then dissipated. The bright light died down again and the pentagon began to disappear.

"It's finally over." Exhaled Shunsui. Byakuya looked at Aizen's remains once more then took off. Ichigo promptly took off after him.

"Hitsugaya!" gasped Hinamori as she watched in horror as Hitsugaya threw up a large amount of blood. He began to waver then eventually began to fall on one side. She caught him just in time and cuddled him in her arms. He coughed a little then gasped loudly as if for air. Her hands trembled as her fingers moved to wipe away the trail of blood from his mouth.

"Shiro-chan" she called to him softly. He looked at her, his eyes trying hard to focus on her but eventually he couldn't handle it anymore and gave in to the creeping darkness. Hinamori's eyes widened when she saw him slip away.

"Toshiro! Toshiro!" she shouted desperately, shaking him repeatedly. She felt a hand rest upon her shoulder and looked up to see Shunsui.

"Don't shake him, it'd just make it worse. We need to get him to Unohana." Hinamori nodded, still trembling from fear. _Don't leave me Hitsugaya, you promised.

* * *

_

"Rukia!" screamed Ichigo into the darkness.

"Try again." Commanded Byakuya after a moment. Ichigo glared at him, though he supposed the prospect of Byakuya screaming out anything would be highly unlikely.

"RUKIA!" He screamed out again then turned to face Byakuya. "Are you sure she can hear us? She was placed in that container thing wasn't she, for the purification period?"

"…"

Ichigo sighed at the lack of response. He tried again. "RUUUUKIIIIIIAAAAAA…"

"I sense her." Interrupted Byakuya, then took off using shunpo.

"Oi…OI!" Ichigo shouted out as he went in the direction Byakuya ran off in.

…

The sight was heartbreaking. Seeing Rukia in that glass coffin, it was as if she was really dead and they were attending her funeral.

KLANK! The sound of a sword hitting the glass snapped Ichigo out of his reverie. The sword merely bounced off the glass.

"What the hell are you doing?" Yelled Ichigo, "If you break the glass like that it could hurt her!"

"We need to get her out of the glass quickly, brat." He replied as he sheathed his soul slayer. "The barrier no longer exist, therefore she is no longer receiving the essentials to keep her alive in that box."

Byakuya punched into the areas near her legs. A tiny crack appeared. He punched it again and again, trying hard to break through the glass. Ichigo stared shocked as he watched Byakuya desperately attempt to get his sister out. His fist was bleeding from the impact but he continued nonetheless.

"What are you doing? Don't just stand there." Ichigo moved to observe the glass coffin.

"Is there a latch to open it?" he asked.

"Would I be doing this if there was a latch to open it?"

"How did he get her in then?"

"The barrier made the glass around her. If we break through the glass and let the outside air mix with the air inside it, the glass will dissipate."

He gave the glass one final hit which successfully punctured the glass. The glass transformed into micro-crystals and dissipated, leaving an unconscious Rukia behind. Byakuya tore a bit of cloth off his haori and wrapped it around his fist.

"Oi Rukia, Rukia." Repeated Ichigo as he nudged her over and over again. His eyes widened as she began to stir. Suddenly a hand shot up and hit Ichigo up the nose as Rukia sat up to stretch, yawning loudly. She looked at the orange-haired as he doubled over in pain.

"That hurt you idiot!" yelled Ichigo. Byakuya smiled inwardly, genuinely amused.

"Ichigo?" She asked, then she looked at Byakuya, "Nii-sama?" Her eyes wondered to her surroundings.

"Where am I?" she asked, scratching the back of her head.

"Don't you remember?" Ichigo asked, trying to appease his nosebleed.

"We'll explain once we get back. Let's go."

* * *

_Damn!_ Thought Matsumoto as she looked around into the fog. _I can't see a damn thing. Is this the ability of Tousen's zanpakuto?_ She spun around as she heard a bloodcurdling scream sound out somewhere in the fog. Another one sounded out no so far from the other one. _Damn, so fast!_

Suddenly a strong force pushed her onto the ground, her head hit the ground on impact. She remained conscious but dazed. She heard the sound of a sword reflecting another sword. _Taichou?_ She thought as she turned to see who had saved her. _It can't be!_

"What do you think you are doing, Ichimaru?" asked Tousen.

"Aizen has been defeated, there is no point in fighting anymore, Tousen." He replied with his usual grin.

"Aizen…Aizen has been defeated!" He asked, bewilded.

Slowly the fog faded away. They were surrounded by captains, shinigamis, Vaizards and the Quincys.

The war was finally over.

* * *

.

Back at Seireitai…

"Once the Centre-46 has been re-established, the punishments of the traitors Ichimaru Gin and Tousen Kaname will be decided. Until then, they are to be held in the tower of penitence despite the fact that they are not death row prisoners as of yet." He motioned the guards to take them away.

"I will now pronounce the promotion of Shinzaburo Michio to be Captain of the third squad in place of the traitor Ichimaru Gin." At his signal, Urahara stepped forward and handed the folded captains' robe to Shinzaburo.

"As well as the promotion of Fukushima Hoshiko to Captain of the fifth squad in place of the traitor Aizen Sousuke." Ichigo stepped forward and handed the captains' robe to her and patted her on the back of the shoulder.

"To the Quincys, Ryokas and the Vaizards, we are forever indebted to you for your contribution in this war."

"In celebration for this victory, a festival lasting one week will take place starting in four days. At the end of the festival, a grand ball would be held in the quadrant of Seireitai. Normal training will resume in two weeks time."

The crowd cheered.

* * *

.

Hinamori could hear the cheering of the crowd as she sat by Hitsugaya's side. He had fallen into a coma and had not woken up yet since they returned a day ago.

She sighed as she finished folding her last paper crane and hung it up. _There, a thousand._ She got off the stool and sat down next to him again, closing her eyes and clasping her hand in front of her as if she were praying._ I wish Shiro-chan would get better soon._ She opened her eyes and took his hand into hers, gently brushing his single snow-white bang away from his eyes.

_Get better soon, Shiro-chan.

* * *

_

**End of Chapter Thirteen**

* * *

**Next**: Chapter 14: Amends & Resolutions

Please read and review. Thanks for those who do, especially those who review every update. You people rock! xD


	17. Amends & Resolutions Part I

**

* * *

CHAPTER 14 PART 1: AMENDS & RESOLUTIONS

* * *

**

I decided to make "mushy ShiroxMomo scenes for all" (As **Bizoitnott **puts it) mwahaha … though hopefully not too mushy. And there is no smut (or lemon, or whatever you people call it) in this entire fanfic at all so don't worry, though I know what some of you from LJ would be thinking. :smirks:

**Epsilon Zeta**: I'm interested in the picture, can you please email it to me. xD

**Another Author's note:** I haven't re-read this so there are probably mistakes. And don't worry, it's only going to be two parts in this chap otherwise it's too long.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any part of Bleach, manga or anime.

* * *

**AMENDS & RESOULTIONS

* * *

**

"Come on, the festival's starting Hinamori-kun." Said Kira worriedly as he watched his melancholy friend. She was still sitting besides Hitsugaya's sick bed with his hand in hers.

"No, you should go, Kira-kun. I don't feel like going, I want to stay here in case he wakes up." She replied, her gaze never leaving Hitsugaya's form. She placed a hand on his forehead to check his temperature.

Kira sighed, it was hopeless.

"Okay then, but don't hesitate to join me at the festival if you feel like it."

"Thanks." She replied absentmindedly.

Kira gazed at his friend once more then exited the room.

"It's been four days already, Shiro-chan. When will you wake up?" There was no response from him, he seemed empty of life. _Ironic isn't it, the turn of events?_ She thought sadly as she watched his pale and motionless form.

"Excellent job, Kuchiki Rukia." Appraised Yamamoto as he surveyed the festival layout from the main tower.

Four days earlier, Rukia was granted the position of festival designer and manager at her request. Of course, Byakuya, Ichigo and Renji were against it as organising a festival in four days would place a large amount of stress on her. But Rukia had been vehement, arguing that she had already rested for three months and doing this task would brighten her up.

Since then, Rukia had received exclusive rights to duplicate objects from the living world to add to the festival. The objects ranged from sweets and stuffed bunnies to rides such as the Ferris wheel. The product was a very … unique layout – mixing feudal age Japan with the modern age.

Rukia beamed proudly at Yamamoto's compliment and stared out at the glowing lights and alluring music of the festival grounds.

"You should go and enjoy yourself." Yamamoto continued after a moment, he turned to Byakuya, Ichigo and Renji who were all standing behind Rukia.

"All _four_ of you. That is an order, Kuchiki Byakuya." A disgusted expression played on Byakuya's face for a split second then quickly returned to its state of placidity.

"Yes sir" He obeyed. With that he turned around and walked gracefully out the door. Rukia followed him happily while Ichigo and Renji trailed behind her.

"Nii-sama!" Rukia called out. Byakuya stopped and turned to look at her.

"Yes Rukia?"

"Would you like to join us?" Rukia asked, knowing full well that if she didn't then he would just walk off by himself. Byakuya thought for a moment.

"I shall." Renji and Ichigo's jaws dropped to the ground. Rukia seemed oblivious and smiled happily. The Kuchiki siblings walked off together, leaving two dumbstruck shinigamis to trail behind as they wondered if the Kuchiki siblings actually got closer then they've let on in the last four days.

* * *

. 

_Where am I?_ Wondered Hitsugaya as he peered around. He was enveloped in pure darkness, the eerie silence deafened him. But the strangest thing of all was that he felt comfortable here. He did not want to leave.

The truth of it all was that Aizen's words had gotten to him. However, a trait he had picked up throughout the years of being a captain enabled him to complete the pentagon successfully – and that was to set aside disruptive emotions. But in the end, when everything was over, the words had hit home and buried themselves deep within him. Or, you could say, brought up doubts that already existed in him.

/ _"Doesn't it just kill you to know that I meant more to her than you did?"_ /

_Did Aizen really mean more to her than I did? If the situation was reversed and I was the one who died, would she have turned her sword on Aizen for me?_ Hitsugaya scoffed, up until his betrayal was crystal clear to her, she would have never dared raise her sword to Aizen.

/ _"But in the end _Hinamori_ chose to believe me. Tell me, how did you feel when Hinamori pointed her sword at you Hitsugaya?"/_

There was no word that could describe what he had felt at that moment, but the closest word to it was perhaps 'shattered'. He had kept the pieces intact for too long and avoided anything to do with it for such a long time. When Hinamori was in her coma, he had concentrated on worrying about her health. When she had apologised for it, he had dismissed it for her sake. Then after that, he had concentrated on the shared goal of destroying Aizen and winning the war. But now that everything was over, he no longer had any distractions. The pieces that had shattered the moment she pointed her soul slayer at him now fell apart. For the first time in his life, Hitsugaya gave in to the darkness.

* * *

Hinamori woke up in the middle of the night, something was not right. She lifted her head from Hitsugaya's bed and shifted in her seat to stretch. The moonlight streamed through the window, casting rectangular shapes on the blanket. 

Hinamori lit a lamp and moved to sit next to Hitsugaya on the bed. She leaned down to kiss his forehead then jerked back. He was cold, too cold. Hinamori jumped up immediately and leaned over him, taking his shoulders and shaking him harshly.

"Hitsugaya-kun! Hitsugaya-kun!" She yelled repeatedly. Her head spun towards the door. "Somebody help me!" She screamed out desperately. She leaned down and placed her ear against his chest, her eyes widened in disbelief. _There's no movement and I can't feel his heart beating._ Horror overcame her. She ran out of the room.

"Somebody help me! Hitsugaya is… Hitsugaya is not breathing!" She yelled as she ran down the hall, peering into different rooms on the way. A shinigami ran into the hall.

"Hinamori-fukutaichou! What's wrong!" He asked breathlessly.

"Quick! Get Unohana-taichou and tell her that Hitsugaya is not breathing! Hurry!"

"Wha… Hitsugaya-taichou… Right away" He managed to reply before he scurried down the hall in search of his captain.

Hinamori let out a sob and quickly returned back to Hitsugaya. As she approached his room, she saw a blue flash of light shining through the door.

"Hanatarou-kun!" The fourth squad shinigami looked sheepishly at her.

"Hitsugaya-taichou's condition has been stabilised but you have to wait for Unohana-taichou to be sure." Relief flooded through Hinamori.

"Thank you, Hanatarou-kun. If you hadn't come when you did then…" Hinamori trailed off, she didn't want to think down that path.

A few moments later, Unohana walked into the room and hurried to Hitsugaya's side. She tended to him then turned to face Hinamori.

"He's fine now. But…" Unohana stopped mid-sentence, deep in thought. "That's strange." Hinamori's eyes widened.

"But what? What's strange? What's wrong with him, Unohana-Taichou!" Hinamori pressed, anxiety becoming her.

"Physically he is completely healed yet he still won't wake up."

"He's completely healed? But he stopped breathing! Even his heart stopped for a minute. If Hanatarou wasn't here then…"

"Calm down, Hinamori-san." Unohana interrupted gently, "Right now he is fighting a war inside. But because it showed physically on his healed body, I presume he is loosing to the darkness." Unohana closed her eyes. "There is nothing else we, the fourth division, can do now. Whether he wakes up is up to him." She placed a hand on Hinamori's shoulder then she examined Hitsugaya once more before she left the room.

"Come, Hanatarou." She ordered. Hinamori bowed a little as she watched the captain and Hanatarou exit the room.

"Thank you, Captain Unohana. Hanatarou." As soon as they left, Hinamori returned to Hitsugaya's side and took his hand.

* * *

Hitsugaya sat in the darkness with his eyes closed, hugging his knees. He seemed to glow as light seemed to emit from him. 

"Hitsugaya, can you hear me?" came a familiar voice.

_Hinamori_. He slowly opened his eyes and peered into the darkness.

"You know…" Her voice sounded so soft and sad.

"I'm really annoyed at you." She continued bluntly.

_What!_ Was he _not_ in a coma?

"You should have said something if you had doubts. Cos you know, that's what couples do – they talk out their problems. They don't keep it to themselves…or go into a coma."

Hitsugaya listened in disbelief. She has got to be the first girlfriend ever to scold her _in-a-coma-_boyfriend. These kind of things were unprecedented, or so he thought.

"You were always like that though – putting me in front of everything. But you were never like this: so expressionless and so … _so comatose_." Hitsugaya felt his eyebrow twitch a few times.

"And when have you ever given up willingly without fighting?" She continued.

"Ne Hitsugaya," said Hinamori, her voice going low and serious, "you might be comfortable in there but what about the people who care about you out here?"

Hitsugaya flinched inwardly. He was no stranger to the feeling of waiting for someone you care about to wake up, not knowing whether they will or not. _And now I've put Hinamori through that._

There was a moment of silence. He sensed it before he heard it – her tears. _Great, now I've made her cry. Smooth Hitsugaya, very smooth._ If there was one thing he hated more than Aizen in this world, it was Hinamori crying – especially because of him.

"You promised" she sobbed in a child-like voice, "Remember? When that thing with Ayumi happened, you promised me that you would never leave me. You promised!"

Hitsugaya closed his eyes but that just seemed to accentuate the sound of her crying so he opened them. This time though, when he opened his eyes, he saw not darkness but a blurry vision of Hinamori wiping her tears. He blinked a few times until he was no longer affected by the dim light that lit the room, and until the blurriness went away.

He saw her clearly now, sitting near him and caught in her tears. A dull pain tugged at his heart as he watched her. He reached out to touch her hand.

The soft contact surprised her, causing her to jerk up straight in her seat. Her eyes widened and she turned her head towards him ever so slowly.

"Hitsu…Hitsugaya-kun!" she exclaimed.

A grin broke out on her face as she jumped at him and hugged him. He was startled at first but then returned the hug by wrapping his arms around her and holding her closer to him. Hinamori snuggled closer and laid contently into him.

At that moment, a fourth division shinigami who had been camped outside the room for the night walked in. His face went bright red when he saw the position they were in and quickly averted his gaze to the side.

"Uh-hmm… sorry to interrupt Hinamori-fukutaichou, I heard noises in here so I came in to see if something had happened. My name is Fujita by the way, I was posted here by Unohana-taichou. I apologise again." Hinamori in turn went red and quickly got off the bed.

"No, not at all" she replied hastily, scratching the back of her head as she gave him a goofy grin accompanied by a high pitched laugh. The shinigami looked at her weirdly then lowered his gaze to observe Hitsugaya. His eyes went wide.

"Hitsugaya-taichou!" He exclaimed, "You're awake!" He walked over hastily to the annoyed captain who now was sitting up in bed with his arms folded.

"Pardon me but I have to examine you now to see if everything is okay."

"I'm fine." Hitsugaya replied stubbornly.

"Hitsugaya, let him examine you." Said Hinamori. Hitsugaya glared at her. Hinamori glared back. A drop of sweat slid down the back of the fourth division shinigami's head as he observed the two. To his surprise, Hitsugaya faltered after a while and plonked back onto the pillow. _Only Hinamori-fukutaichou can defeat Hitsugaya taichou's icy glare._ He thought as he moved to examine the boy captain.

After he was done, he announced that the captain seemed to be completely healed. The genius just grunted a "I am not called a genius for nothing" grunt and began to climb out of the bed.

"I shall be returning to my room now." He stated as he kicked the blankets off him. Fujita moved to protest.

"But sir, Unohana-taichou said not to let you go if you wake up until she has come to see you tomorrow morning." Hitsugaya shrugged and continued to get up.

"Hitsugaya-taichou!" He pleaded, moving his gaze to Hinamori for help.

Two hands shot out and pushed Hitsugaya back onto the bed. He sat up again straight away.

"Oi!"

"I think you should stay here until Unohana-taichou comes tomorrow, Hitsugaya-kun." She said politely but firmly with a small smile on her face. Hitsugaya shuddered inwardly. _In other words, she means "you better stay here and wait until Unohana comes or else"_.

He crossed his arms and looked away.

"Whatever."

Fujita gave Hinamori a grateful smile.

"Well, I better let you get some rest, Hitsugaya-taichou. You should get some proper rest too, Hinamori-fukutaichou. I heard that you have been sleeping on the chair next to Hitsugaya taichou's bed ever since he went into a coma."

Hinamori scratched the back of her head and laughed nervously as she felt Hitsugaya raise an eyebrow at her. _Maa, I'm going to get in trouble later on._ She thought timidly as she avoided looking at him.

"Thank you, Fujita-kun. You should get some rest too." She replied in a voice that could match Kuchiki Rukia's pretence voice. He nodded at both of them before leaving the room.

Hitsugaya was still looking at her.

"Sleeping on the chair huh?" He said evenly, "for…how many days have I been in a coma?"

"Four days." She answered.

"You've been sleeping on a chair for four days!" He exclaimed.

"It's your fault for not waking up sooner!" She retorted somewhat illogically as she folded her arms and stared him down. He may be the same height as her now but he was currently sitting down on the bed and she was still standing.

Hinamori abruptly turned around to face the window. Hitsugaya could see her trembling from trying to hold her tears in. He let out a sigh.

"Momo, come here." He said.

"No." She replied stubbornly, refusing to turn around to face him. She wiped her tears away with her sleeves and sniffed. Hinamori jumped a little when she felt Hitsugaya embrace her from behind. He turned her around to face him. She looked away from him.

"Oi Hinamori, look at me." She slowly met his gaze.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Nothing." He raised an eyebrow at her. She leaned in and rested her forehead on his.

"I was scared" she whispered, "I thought you would leave me." She clung onto him tighter.

"Baka Hinamori, I promised remember." He reminded her.

"Sometimes promises can't be kept." She argued.

"I'll keep the promises I make to you." He assured her. She started to cry again.

"But you left me, even if it was only for a moment. You stopped breathing! You made me believe you left me for good!" She pounded his chest with her fists. "How could you do that to me!" She was crying freely now, her hits coming slower and lighter each time it connected.

"You promised me!" she cried forcefully, "You promised me you would _never_ leave me!"

Hitsugaya stood there shocked. _I stopped breathing? Was I really gone for a moment?_

She flung her arms around him and held him tightly.

"It's okay, I came back didn't I?" He said soothingly as he hugged her back. She buried her face in him in response.

They stood like that for a while until her crying calmed down.

"I…" She whispered weakly near his ear.

"Hmm? You what?" He asked gently as he continued to rub her back in a comforting motion.

"I love you." She finished. Hitsugaya stopped, his eyes widened. He knew she liked him already but hearing the love word so bluntly from her had a huge impact on him.

She moved so that her forehead was once more on his.

"Now might be a good time to say something." She smiled. But Hitsugaya was a man of action. He searched her eyes for a moment then slowly leaned in to take her mouth with his. The kiss grew and Hinamori felt her knees give in as she clung onto him for support. She stumbled forward and in her process of doing so she pushed Hitsugaya backwards. They fell on the bed with Hinamori on top of him.

"Whaa!" she let out as she landed with only about an inch to spare from Hitsugaya's face. Her face became bright red as soon as she realised that she was lying on top of him. She quickly got off and sat up straight on the bed, her eyes avoiding his eyes as she looked directly ahead.

She caught him smirking at her though and gave him a "_don't you think about _anything_, Hitsugaya Toshiro"_ look. According to Ichigo, most human males can't wait till they are eighteen at the least to do the deed, and Hitsugaya was over a hundred and fifty years old.

An uncomfortable silence drifted past them.

"So…" started Hitsugaya, "What's been happening?"

* * *

"Shhh, they are sleeping." Whispered Fujita at the two other shinigamis with him, one of them was Hanatarou. The other one was Rangiku. 

Matsumoto watched as Hinamori snuggled closer to Hitsugaya in her sleep.

"Aww, they are so cute!" she exclaimed.

"Do you think that these two have, you know?" hinted Fujita. Matsumoto was confused for a moment then her eyes widened in realisation. She took a fan and hit him on the head with it, hard. Hanatarou was still confused.

"Most men can't wait a hundred plus years…" Fujita continued as he rubbed the large bump on his head. He was interrupted by Matsumoto.

"My captain isn't like that you moron" she snapped at him.

* * *

Hitsugaya slowly stirred from his sleep…to find an audience. He looked from right to left – Ichigo, Renji, Rukia, Matsumoto, Kira, Hanatarou and Fujita. He was about to bolt upright when he heard Hinamori moan and slowly open her eyes. She sat up, stretched her arms and yawned. Then she noticed the audience. Ichigo, Renji and Matsumoto were smiling while the others looked amused. 

"Umm…" she managed to let out. "What are all of you doing here?"

Renji and Ichigo looked as if they were about to say something to tease them – from the way they were smirking. Luckily, Unohana arrived before they could.

"My, my, there shouldn't be so much people in here." She said as she ushered them out the room.

"Just here to see Hitsugaya" smirked Ichigo, giving the couple a look.

"Yeah, apparently taichou decided to stop sleeping." Said Rangiku. Hitsugaya glared at her.

"I was in a coma, Matsumoto. Besides, stop making me sound as laid back as Shunsui."

"Sorry captain. Besides, I think captain Shunsui's 'slothfulness' is inspirational." She said as she walked out the room, leaving with a "glad you're well, captain."

"You are free to go now, Captain Hitsugaya." Said Unohana when she finished examining him.

"Thank you, Unohana-taichou."

* * *

"What's that Rukia-san?" exclaimed Hinamori as she pointed at the pink fluffy cloud in a clear bag. Ichigo, Renji and Hitsugaya trailed closely behind them. 

"It's called 'cotton candy'." She informed her, obviously proud of her expert knowledge. "It's a type of candy that melts in your mouth." Hinamori was intrigued.

"Can I have a pink one of this 'cotton candy' please?" She asked the seller. The old man smiled and her and asked,

"Do you want to have a pre-made one or would you like to watch me make one?"

"I can watch?" Hinamori exclaimed excitedly. Rukia seemed intrigued as well. She had never watched one being made before.

The men watched the girls weirdly as they squealed in delight over the making of cotton candy.

Hinamori stared in awe as the sugar slowly formed a large cotton ball and shrieked when he handed it over to her. She observed it closely for a moment then pinched off a bit then placed it into her mouth.

"It's delicious!"

She turned around immediately to Hitsugaya.

"Shiro-chan, try some!" Before he could protest, Hinamori force fed him a bundle. Ichigo laughed at the scene but was soon silenced when Rukia stuffed a bundle in his mouth. She then passed some to Renji.

The group continued moving forward, stopping at little trinket stalls on the way. Suddenly Hinamori and Rukia screamed. Standing a few feet in front of them was a rabbit shaped store. Both girls gasped and covered their mouths in shock, then they sprinted towards it as soon as they recovered.

The men stood there for a moment watched them enter the shop. Hitsugaya turned to Ichigo,

"So how long did it take you to convince Kuchiki Byakuya to permit this?" He asked pointedly. Ichigo just shrugged and walked towards it.

Rukia looked around, it was absolute heaven. There were different assortments of bunny stuff everywhere – from plush toys to stationery to real rabbits. She wanted to buy one of everything in the store!

"No need to buy one of everything in this store Rukia" came a voice behind her.

"Ichigo." Then the words registered. "Why not?" she asked.

Ichigo shrugged. "Byakuya figured as much. Everything is already at your house."

"Nii-sama did this, for me?" She asked, deeply surprised.

"Uh…yeah." He replied, looking away.

On the other side, Hitsugaya was watching Hinamori feed a white rabbit.

"Kawaii!" exclaimed Hinamori.

"Are you going to get one then?" asked Hitsugaya, somewhat amused. Hinamori thought for a moment then shook her head.

"I won't be able to look after it properly." She concluded.

* * *

. 

Night fell and the festival lights illuminated the grounds.

"I want to go on that!" said Hinamori, pointing to the Ferris wheel. Ichigo and Renji's mouth fell while Hitsugaya looked at it sceptically, seemingly checking for any signs of danger.

_That Rukia, she actually made them recreate the Ferris wheel._ Thought Ichigo, though he couldn't really put it past her – she was stubborn and determined that way.

"Abarai-taichou!" screamed out a voice. They turned around to see a subordinate running towards them.

"Abarai-taichou! There's been a situation at the ninth division headquarters, sir."

"Damn it!" swore Renji, he turned to his friends. "I'll catch up with you guys later, if it's not too late." With that he stormed off.

"Shall we go then?" Hinamori asked, dragging Hitsugaya by the arm towards the Ferris wheel. Rukia and Ichigo followed behind in silence. Hinamori eyed the two discreetly and thought of a brilliant plan.

When the four of them reached the Ferris wheel and were about to be seated, Hinamori turned to Ichigo and Rukia.

"Is it okay for Hitsugaya and me to share a cart? You two can take this one or the one after us." She asked sweetly, ignoring Hitsugaya's raised eyebrow.

"Why do you want…" Rukia elbowed Ichigo in the ribs.

"That's fine, Hinamori-chan." She replied. Hinamori smiled back at her then entered the cart. Hitsugaya followed her.

"Why did you elbow me?" asked Ichigo irritably as they entered the next cart.

"They're a couple, naturally they would want to go by themselves you idiot." Answered Rukia in a matter-of-fact voice.

On the cart above them, Hitsugaya confronted Hinamori.

"What are you up to, Momo?" He asked.

"Don't you think Ichigo and Rukia make a good match?" she asked, turning to look at the two. Hitsugaya gave her a look of disbelief.

"What?"

"Are you going to be looking at them this whole ride?" He asked. She looked at him puzzled for a moment then grinned.

"Are you jealous because my attention was diverted from you?" she teased. Hitsugaya scoffed.

"Of course not." He said stubbornly, folding his arms again. She looped an arm into his and snuggled into him.

"Wait until the fireworks start." She said happily as she stole another glance at the two below. Hitsugaya groaned.

* * *

**END OF CHAPTER FOURTEEN PART 1

* * *

**

Once again I had to split a chapter in two otherwise it would be too long. So next time would just be the continuation of this. Hitsugaya and Hinamori still have to work out some issues...and tell me now if you want Ichigo/Rukia cos right now it can still go both ways.

**Please review**Thanks again for those who have.

* * *


	18. Amends & Resolutions Part II

**

* * *

CHAPTER 14 PART 2: Amends & Resolutions

* * *

**

Thanks to all those who reviewed!

This is my comfort food after episode 47… Anyway, it seems as though Ichigo x Rukia is the way to go according to most of the reviews, sorry to the Rukia x Renji fans. xD They are quite minor in this fic. Also, please forgive any mistake made as I haven't re-read it, and also it's Australian English so some words may be spelt differently then in America.

**Zanjutsu: **A combat using zanpakuto

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any part of Bleach, manga or anime.

* * *

**AMENDS & RESOLUTIONS

* * *

**

"Mou, how come they are not doing anything! It's such a romantic atmosphere" cried out Hinamori in frustration at the couple below. "Ichigo and Rukia are quite dense." Hitsugaya sighed again.

"I can't see them properly! Why won't this thing stop moving! The view I just had was perfect." She complained as she leaned further to the side. _Just a little closer._ She thought.

"Ahhh!"

Hitsugaya panicked and quickly pulled Hinamori back from the edge.

She turned to him, eyes wide with tears brimming at the bottom.

"That was scary, Shiro-chan!" she wailed childishly.

"Baka Hinamori, I told you that was dangerous." Hitsugaya retorted as he crossed his arms once more.

Hinamori shuddered at the memory then snuggled closer to Hitsugaya.

"I can't wait till the fireworks, the last time I saw them was your birthday."

"We see them every year." He commented in an indifferent manner.

"We used to watch them together – just the four of us." Hinamori answered distantly, "You and Matsumoto, me and Aizen-taichou."

Hitsugaya scoffed, causing Hinamori to snap out of her reverie. The coupling did _not_ go down well with him.

"What was that for?" asked Hinamori, genuinely baffled. Hitsugaya grunted in response but she persisted.

"Hmm?"

Hitsugaya looked at her. _Is it really that embedded into her? She doesn't even realise she couples herself with Aizen autonomously._

"I think you are in this cart with the wrong person." Hitsugaya snapped back.

"Huh?" Hinamori turned to face him fully now but Hitsugaya remained sitting with his arms crossed with only his head turned in her direction.

"According to what you just said, I should be in a cart with Matsumoto and you should be in a cart with Aizen." Hinamori stared at him in confusion and disbelief for a moment, then her eyes unexpectedly narrowed.

"I was grouping captains with their vices, Hitsugaya."

"Oh." Hitsugaya shuffled in his seat uncomfortably. "That's okay then." He was met with an exasperated sigh.

"It is not okay. We need to talk about this."

"Now?" He asked then shook his head slightly. "Maybe later." _In a million years time._

"Yes, right now." She looked at him sternly, he looked away and sighed.

"What Aizen said was not true."

"Was it not?" he couldn't help but ask.

"I loved Aizen as if he were my own father." Hinamori answered him truthfully. "I admired him tremendously and looked up to him for many things."

Hitsugaya looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to continue.

"And if he wasn't evil and didn't betray soul society, I would still love him and admire him. But all children grow up and become independent of their fathers or mothers or whatever sooner or later. Aizen's betrayal just forced me to grow up and become independent sooner." She paused to see if he was following what she was saying.

"If Aizen was still here, I would still be dependent on him in a he-feels-like-my-father sort of way. This means that if he never left, if the whole Aizen thing didn't occur then we probably wouldn't be together right now as a couple because I would still be like a child growing up in her father's care."

Hitsugaya nodded slightly at her and looked away.

"But even if the whole Aizen thing never occurred, I wouldn't have given it much time before we were a couple anyway." She added. Now this caught his attention.

"Huh?" He was facing her fully now although his hands were still crossed at his chest. Hinamori became slightly pink as she continued.

"I had the biggest crush on you but you seemed happy in your ignorance." She said with a small smile. Hitsugaya's eyes widened.

"You liked me? Before the whole Aizen thing happened?"

"Yes." She replied. Hitsugaya's heart skipped a beat and when it continued again it was remarkably lighter. A smug grin formed on his face.

"I wasn't ignorant - I just had completely no idea." Now it was Hinamori's turn to have a smug grin.

"So the genius does miss a few things huh?" She remarked teasingly then laughed. Hitsugaya tried to glare back but found that he couldn't stop smiling. She laughed harder at his expression.

* * *

. 

"And see, over there is the stall where we bought the fruit lollies from!" Rukia exclaimed, still not quite getting over the effects of the Ferris wheel. Ichigo sighed and looked over to where she was pointing at and promptly smacked her on the head.

"That's not where it is, baka." He pointed to the opposite direction. "It's there, see, near the bunny store." _Her sense of direction can almost compete with Yachiru's. _He thought grimly.

"No need to hit me, you moron!" she retorted, rubbing the back of her head soothingly. Luckily for Ichigo, Rukia's eyes caught something else of interest and she was once more immersed in it.

Ichigo watched her with an odd expression. _What a weirdo._ He thought. A moment later he sighed, _Oh well, Rukia's always been different – in more ways than one.

* * *

_

Hinamori and Hitsugaya stood on the deck waiting for Ichigo and Rukia to get off.

"So, how did you two enjoy the ride?" Hinamori asked the latter 'couple'. Rukia grinned widely while Ichigo looked bored.

"It was great!"

Hitsugaya observed Ichigo's expression while Rukia rattled on about what she saw from above to Hinamori. The boy seemed somewhat distracted.

"Ah, the fireworks are starting!" exclaimed Hinamori.

They found a deserted grassy hilltop and sat down. During the fireworks, Hinamori stole glances at Ichigo and Rukia who, to her growing frustration, were not doing much.

Her eyes wondered to the other side and she got an idea.

"Ano, Rukia-chan, Ichigo-kun, Hitsugaya and I are just going to go to that hill top over there, okay?" Hinamori told them sweetly.

"What?" Ichigo started. Hinamori smiled then dragged a confused Hitsugaya towards the other hill before either could say another word.

"They sure like to spend a lot of time alone together." Commented Rukia, _I wonder if you become like that when you have a boyfriend. But then again, Ichigo and I spend a lot of time together and we aren't going out._

"I think" Ichigo started slowly "that they are trying to set us up."

"What do you mean "set us up"? asked Rukia, confused. Ichigo let out an exasperated sigh.

"It's nothing."

"Tell me, Ichigo." Rukia demanded, giving him a stern look. Ichigo let out another sigh.

"I think they are trying to get us to be a couple." Explained Ichigo. He was grateful to the night that concealed the pink on his face.

"Wh…What?" stuttered Rukia, her face also tinting pink.

The two both turned to look at the other couple. Hinamori was snuggling up to Hitsugaya with her head resting on his shoulder. Ichigo and Rukia snapped their head back and stiffened, an uncomfortable atmosphere clouding them for a moment.

"The fireworks are so pretty." Commented Rukia somewhat lamely.

"Yeah." Replied Ichigo.

* * *

"Mou, why aren't they doing anything?" sighed Hinamori in exasperation. 

"Maybe you should make it rain, or snow." She suggested, a new image coming into her head. She squealed.

"Then she would get a cold, and then Ichigo would have to look after her!" She clapped her hands at the brilliance of it all.

"Baka Hinamori, Byakuya would be after me if I did that." He replied, Hinamori sulked, Hitsugaya sighed. His sword started to glow. A moment later, snow flakes were falling on the whole of Seireitai.

He took his captain's jacket off and placed it around her.

* * *

"What the?" Ichigo remarked as he felt the soft and icy snowflakes on his skin. Rukia looked around in shock and awe. 

"It's beautiful." She stated breathlessly. She put a hand out to catch some in the palm of her hand, observing them as they melted.

"It's been such a long time since it has snowed in Soul Society." She commented.

The snow began to fall more rapidly by the second until it came down like rain. Ichigo and Rukia ran under a large tree to shield themselves from the gathering snow. A moment later, the snow subsided. A squeal ran out from the other hill.

Rukia looked at Ichigo then went out from under the tree to see what the squeal was about. Ichigo followed her.

On the other hill, Hitsugaya was dodging Hinamori's snowballs. While she bent down to retrieve another ball, Hitsugaya hastily made one and threw it towards her. Hinamori squealed and moved just in time then retaliated with her own snowball.

"Oi Rukia" Ichigo started, turning his head towards her.

BANG. A snowball, no doubt hurled by a now smug Rukia, hit him firmly on the face and splattered.

"Hehe" she grinned triumphantly at him.

"Teme…" His scowl turned into a mischievous grin as he bent down and made a snowball of his own.

Rukia's smile disappeared as she watched Ichigo make a snowball. She quickly bent down again to make one but it was too late.

"Oi Rukia!" Ichigo called, holding a relatively large snowball in his hand, a smug grin covering his face. He was in the position of a pitcher.

The ball was thrown and Rukia quickly dodged to the left.

SPLAT!

"I knew you were going to dodge left." Said Ichigo, his smile even haughtier then before.

SPLAT! The ball hit him right in the middle of his smug face.

"I knew you would be too caught up in your arrogance to move." She retorted superiorly.

Ichigo glared at her, Rukia glared back, snowballs at the ready.

It was war.

* * *

"Ah, look Shiro-chan, they're throwing snowballs at each other. Yoshi!" she muttered triumphantly, "a step towards my goal." 

Hitsugaya looked at her weirdly and sighed.

Hinamori sneezed and placed her backhand on her forehead.

"I don't feel so well Shiro-chan" she said as she hugged herself. Hitsugaya panicked and examined her.

"What's wrong? Does your head hurt? Are you too cold? Wah! We need to get you to the fourth division immediately!" He rambled, alarmed. He quickly but gently positioned her on his back and rushed off towards the health division.

* * *

. 

"What is this?" asked Byakuya demandingly when Rukia and Ichigo returned to the Kuchiki mansion. Rukia had come home drenched and shivering.

The servants quickly moved to wrap the princess with a warm towel.

"Draw Rukia a bath and warm up her room." He ordered. The servants complied and lead Rukia away. Byakuya turned to face Ichigo.

"What were you doing?" He inquired.

"We were watching the fireworks, then it started snowing so we had a snowball fight." Ichigo answered easily, though at Byakuya's gaze he shifted.

"Don't look at me like that, Rukia started it." Ichigo retorted defensively. Byakuya raised an eyebrow ever so slightly.

"Oh?"

"Yeah" he answered firmly, "It's kinda late so I'm going home now. Tell Rukia I said bye." With that he turned around and started walking out.

"Stop." Byakuya commanded, causing Ichigo to turn around.

"Is there something else Byakuya?" He asked. Byakuya's eyes narrowed at the lack of formal address.

"There is." He replied smoothly nonetheless. He motioned towards the guest receiving room. Ichigo looked weirdly at him but followed his gesture.

Once the two were seated and tea was brought to them, Ichigo came forth and initiated the conversation – seeing as how Byakuya didn't seem like he was going to start anytime soon from the way he was sitting there quietly sipping his tea.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" He asked straightforwardly.

"Rukia." Was the simple reply. Ichigo sighed exasperatedly.

"Look, I already told you what happened and I'm glad that you're being the doting older brother that you should be…" gushed Ichigo. He really was tired and wanted desperately to go back to his room and sleep.

"What is your position in relation to my sister?" Byakuya interrupted. The question caught Ichigo off guard, causing him to stop mid sentence.

"Huh? What do you mean? We are just friends."

"Oh?" Byakuya just continued drinking his tea.

Ichigo's eyebrows twitched.

"In fifty years time, you will be nearing your death from old age yet Rukia would be the equivalent of a few years older then she is now in your time. If you two are just friends, once you return to your world, you shall never see each other again."

Ichigo scoffed. "You can't do that." He argued.

"I do not wish for Rukia to waste her time on something that would cause her inevitable sadness in the future. In the living world, you will age and die eventually – this is not something I wish her to endure."

Ichigo let out yet another scoff. "So what are you suggesting, that I remain here in soul society in my shinigami form and let Kon take over my earthly body?" he replied sarcastically.

Byakuya remained silent and took another sip of his tea. Ichigo's eyes went wide.

"That's what you meant, wasn't it?" He asked demandingly. He crossed his arms.

"Pfft! Why should I do that? It should be Rukia who comes to the living world, Urahara can make another gigai can't he?" He suggested stubbornly.

"Hm" He finished the remaining tea in his cup and set it down. "You say you two are just friends and yet you are unwilling to let her go." He pondered out loud, purposely. "Interesting." With that he got up and headed towards the room.

"You may go now." He told Ichigo offhandedly as he walked out, leaving a stunned Ichigo behind, gaping.

* * *

. 

"Hanatarou, what wrong with her?" Asked Hitsugaya anxiously. Hanatarou observed the usually calm captain for a moment before replying.

"Ano, Hinamori-fukutaichou has caught a cold." He took out a medium sized bottle. "She needs to take a sip of this after every meal until she gets better. Other then that, she'll be fine."

"Thanks Hanatarou."

The fourth division shinigami looked sheepishly down at the floor, rubbing his head subconsciously.

"Not at all." He replied shyly. He gave Hinamori a small smile then exited the room, leaving the couple alone in the recuperation centre, again.

Hitsugaya turned to face Hinamori, who was now sitting up on the bed with her hands clasped above the blanket.

"I wonder what Ichigo and Rukia are up to now." She pondered out loud.

"Worry about yourself!" Hitsugaya snapped. Hinamori was unaffected by it and continued in her reverie.

"Oi, baka Hinamori, snap out of it." He called to her as he sat facing her on the bed. Hinamori glared at him.

"That 'baka' is not necessary" she scolded.

"How else would you describe a person whose plan backfires on themselves?" He asked.

"It's your entire fault, Shiro-chan. Who told you to make it snow?"

"What! You did!"

"You didn't have to make it so cold." She argued. Hitsugaya's eyebrow twitched. A moment later he sighed.

"Hai, hai. It was all my fault. Now take a sip of this and go to sleep." He said as he uncapped the medicine bottle and held it to her. She took it and took a sip of it then gave it back to him.

Hitsugaya helped her lie back down then tucked her in and kissed her forehead.

"Go back to your room and sleep, Toshiro." She murmured as she verged on the brink of sleep.

"I know, I know. Goodnight, bed wetter Momo."

"Goodnight Shiro-chan."

* * *

. 

Ichigo laid looking up at the ceiling, his head resting on the palm of his hands. _"You say you two are just friends and yet you are unwilling to let her go."_ What was he talking about? Ichigo scoffed inwardly. He had let her go before, that time he had rescued her and she had decided that she wanted to stay in Soul Society. Sure he wasn't too happy about it but he hadn't objected to it either, seeing as how it was what she really wanted. He shifted to his side.

But living his life normally without her made him feel…empty, like it was missing something. He turned to lie on his back again and scoffed. _Kurosaki Ichigo, what the hell is wrong with you?_

_

* * *

. _

"A western styled ball?" asked Hinamori as she sat up in the hospital bed. Rukia nodded proudly.

"Wow, Rukia-chan is so busy. I didn't know you were organising the celebration ball as well. How does a western styled ball go?" she asked curiously. Rukia became serious and deep in thought.

"I'm not too sure." She started. Hinamori paled, a sweat drop escaped.

"But it can't be that hard to plan. The women wear really nice gowns and the men wear penguin suits called a 'tux'." She continued in a thoughtful manner.

"Penguin suit?" An image of Hitsugaya's head on a penguin's body appeared in her head, causing her to laugh out loud. Rukia looked at her weirdly for a moment then proceeded to pull out a thin booklet out of her uniform. She handed it over to Hinamori.

Hinamori stared in awe of the pictures in the magazines.

"Wow" she gasped, "the women's gowns are so beautiful. And the men look good in the penguin suit." Rukia nodded in profuse agreement.

"Ano, Rukia-san, why are all the gowns in white?" she asked, looking from Rukia to Ichigo and Hitsugaya who had just come in. Ichigo took a glance at what Hinamori was reading.

"Err, Hinamori-san, why are you looking through a bridal magazine?"

THUMP. Ichigo turned towards the noise.

"Err, Hitsugaya-san, what are you doing on the floor?" He asked, genuinely confused.

"Nothing, nothing at all." Hitsugaya replied sheepishly as he got up.

"Bridal magazine? Rukia-chan said this was ball gowns."

"Ball gowns?" Ichigo asked, his expression turned into a scowl as he looked at Rukia. "Only an idiot would mistake a wedding gown for a ball gown." He directed at her. Rukia took the magazine out of Hinamori's hand, rolled it up and whacked Ichigo on the head with it. Then it dawned on her.

"What am I going to do! The tailors have already finished making hundreds, each of different design."

"This is what you get when you put a moron in charge with too much money to spend." Ichigo commented with a frown. He casually moved slightly forward to dodge Rukia's attack.

His skin crawled as he felt the heat of Rukia's anger touch his back and moved his eyes sidewards to see a Rukia in flames. Ichigo jumped and faced her.

"Wh…what!" He stuttered.

"It's all your fault, Kurosaki Ichigo." Rukia seethed in a low tone.

"WHAT? How is your stupidity my fault?" He argued defensively. Hinamori and Hitsugaya eyed the two anxiously.

"Ano, I don't think you should push it further, Ichigo-san." Hinamori suggested.

"Yeah, you shouldn't. Trust me, I know." Advised Hitsugaya, freezing when he felt Hinamori's gaze settle on him.

Ichigo froze when Rukia started advancing on him.

"You told me to just get any magazine, remember. 'Hurry up and pick any one. They're pretty much all the same anyway.'" She mocked.

Hinamori quickly got up and calmed her friend down. Ichigo shuddered at the encounter.

"I'm sure it's okay, Rukia-chan. The dresses are quite similar anyway." She comforted.

"Hinamori! Are you sure you should be out of your bed?" Hitsugaya asked her, concerned.

"I'm sure, Hitsugaya-kun. Don't worry so much." She gave him a sweet smile.

Hitsugaya grunted in reply.

* * *

. 

"Matsumoto-fukutaichou!" The orange-haired looked at the guards in a serious manner.

"I have permission to see Ichimaru Gin." She told them as she handed over a signed note by Yamamoto and Hitsugaya. The guards took the folded note and read it. They nodded at her then opened the door for her.

"Call us when you are done, Matsumoto-fukutaichou." She nodded then entered the shrine of penitence. She looked up the tower-like cell and spotted Gin sitting against the wall next to one of the narrow windows.

He remained silent as she approached him.

"What are you doing here, Rangiku. This is no place for you." he said without looking at her.

"So wasn't where we came from" she replied as she sat down next to him.

"Ne Gin, why did you have to follow Aizen?" Matsumoto asked after a moment. Ichimaru smiled.

"Because I don't like being in the dark, and Aizen was on top of things." He replied.

"hmpf" she looked away from him and hugged her knees.

"Aren't you in the dark now?" She asked. Gin wrapped his arms loosely around his legs and looked around his cell.

"Yes but in a way it's better here."

"So, you regret it then?"

"Regret what?"

"Siding with Aizen."

"No." She stared at him in disbelief. He continued.

"No, the only thing I regret was not telling you that I love you." Matsumoto gasped, they stared at each other for a minute then he kissed her. A tear escaped her eye as she kissed him back, holding him tightly.

A moment later they broke apart. She placed her head on his shoulder and he put his arm around her.

"You know, they're probably going to execute you." She told him sadly.

"I know."

"We'll meet again someday." She assured him. He smiled at her, a real smile and she marvelled in the mixture of sadness and happiness in his eyes.

"We'll see."

* * *

. 

Three days later…

Hinamori stood in front of the full length mirror and stared at herself. She had chosen a strapless satin gown with a chapel length train and had it adjusted to fit her petite form – the puffy bit got annoying to her after a while.

_I never knew Rangiku could do hair so well_ she thought to herself as she examined her hair once more. It was elaborately done up at the back, her usual bangs at the front were now positioned in a side fringe.

There was a knock at the door.

"Oi Hinamori! Are you ready?" Hitsugaya shouted through the door. He was going to barge in as usual but thought twice as she might still be changing.

"Come in" a voice called out. He slid open the door and went in to find her.

He caught his breath when he saw her. She looked absolutely stunning.

Hinamori laughed when she saw Hitsugaya standing there and gaping at her. Her laugh snapped him out of it and he quickly cleared his throat.

"You look…good." He managed to say. She blushed at his compliment.

"So do you." She responded, admiring him in his white suit. Hitsugaya shifted uncomfortably.

"Shall we go?" Hinamori smiled and took his arm.

* * *

"Nanao-chan! Lovely, lovely Nanao-chan!" screamed Shunsui adoringly at his vice-captain, who was now storming quickly across the room away from him. Shunsui followed her happily. 

"Poor Ise-san" commented Hisagi Shuuhei as he shook his head in pity.

"Good evening, Shuuhei-san." Greeted Kurotsuchi Nemu.

"Ah, Nemu-san! You look fabulous." He complimented, causing Nemu to blush and look away.

"Thank you." She replied shyly as she looked at the floor.

"Yo, Kurosaki!" greeted Hisagi as Ichigo ran passed them.

"Yo!" he called back as he ran. Finally he arrived at his destination and placed a hand on each of his unexpecting friend's shoulder. Orihime and Ishida jumped.

"Kurosaki-kun" exclaimed Inoue happily.

"Ichigo." Greeted Ishida calmly as he pushed his glasses up.

"Yo." Hailed Chad. Inoue looked around.

"Where's Rukia-san?" asked Inoue.

"Oh, she's coming with Byakuya." He replied, "she should be here soon." Chad lifted his hand and pointed in the direction behind Ichigo.

"Huh?" Ichigo turned around to see Rukia come in with Byakuya.

"She looks so beautiful!" exclaimed Inoue, clasping her hands together.

Ichigo stared. _Not bad_ he thought, _who would have thought that Rukia could look this good. I guess miracles could happen huh._

Rukia spotted him in the crowd and made her way past the dancing couples over to him. When she reached him, she looked eagerly at the dancing couples and pulled him towards the dance floor.

"Let's dance." It was a command, not a request. Nonetheless Ichigo protested.

"No way!"

"Why not? Look" She pointed at a couple on the dance floor, "even Hitsugaya-taichou is dancing with Hinamori." She pointed out.

"That's because Hitsugaya is hopeless when it comes to Hinamori-san." He argued. "And besides, they're going out." He folded his arms stubbornly.

Rukia glared at him, Ichigo glared back, both unwilling to falter and both just as stubborn as each other.

After a long moment, Rukia sighed in frustration.

"Fine! I'll go find Renji!" She threw at him before storming off.

"Go find Renji then, see if I care!" Ichigo shouted back at her.

_That moron!_ Rukia thought angrily as she stormed through the crowd in search of Renji.

* * *

"Sorry" Hitsugaya apologised again for the nth time for stepping on Hinamori's foot.

"It's okay." She replied. A few moments later he stepped on her foot again.

"Ugh! I can't do this." He stated in a frustrated manner as he gave up. Hinamori laughed quietly.

"You're doing fine, you just need to relax more."

"It's so complex." He argued, causing Hinamori to laugh.

"What's so funny?" He demanded.

"It's just, you're a _captain_ and you don't have any trouble with zanjutsu but you have a problem with dancing. Hmm, think of it as a type of training, Hitsugaya."

"Training?" Hitsugaya thought for a while, _that I can do.

* * *

_

_Damn Rukia, how long is she going to dance with Renji for!_ His eyes followed wherever they went, twitching at times when they moved too close or laughed too intimately.

"Exactly how long do you plan on staring at my sister for?" asked a smooth voice behind him. Ichigo jumped a little and turned quickly to see Byakuya looking at him.

"I wasn't staring at Rukia. I was just watching people dance in general."

"Oh? Is that so?" He asked with an incriminating undertone. With that he strode past him into the crowd.

Ichigo glared at Byakuya's back until he disappeared, then he returned his attention of Rukia and Renji. He let out a frustrated sigh and stomped over to them.

Renji felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see a discontented Ichigo.

"My turn now." He told him. Renji looked shocked for a moment then smiled and retreated. Rukia smirked at him.

"I thought you said that there was no way you would dance."

"I got bored." He offered lamely.

After a while they retreated to the balcony.

"So, you're leaving tomorrow." Rukia said sadly, a hand resting on the balcony rail. Ichigo looked up at the full moon and replied.

"Yeah. You should come visit more often when I do."

"Nii-sama wouldn't allow me to. He says we are from different worlds and that there is no point in doing so."

"Yeah, he told me that too."

A moment of silence passed between them.

"But sooner or later you'll get into trouble again and then I'll have to come save you." Rukia glared at him.

"There's no need. Or perhaps next time a family member of yours would get into trouble again and I would have to help you save them resulting in more trouble for me." She fired back. Her eyes softened a little.

"Or maybe there won't be a next time" she added sadly.

Ichigo didn't like the idea of not seeing her again. He watched her as she sighed and leaned against the railing, looking up at the moon. An irresistible urge to hold her suddenly overwhelmed him and he did so impulsively.

Rukia's eyes widened as she felt Ichigo embrace her from the back. He felt her stiffen and quickly pulled back. A dark pink shaded his face.

"Maa, I don't know what came over me" he said self-consciously as he scratched his head.

"Ichigo." She muttered.

They stared at each other for a long time, both engulfed in confusion and mixed feelings. Ichigo took a deep breath then walked closer to her and slowly leaned down, bringing his face closer to hers. Rukia watched him for a moment before closing her eyes. The lips skimmed each other's briefly at first. They looked at each other again then closed their eyes for the second kiss.

* * *

A few metres away, Hinamori squeaked and clapped her hands. "Did you see, Shiro-chan, did you see?" She asked him excitedly, spinning around at a speed that nearly knocked him off his feet.

"Yes, Momo, it was kinda hard to miss."

Hinamori was ecstatic. "This is great, now Ichigo can stay here and be with Rukia-chan."

"Rukia and Ichigo, hey, I always knew that it was more then friendship." Came an amused voice behind them.

"Shuuhei-kun" Hinamori exclaimed, dragging the vice-captain out and towards the couple. "Look at them!"

"My, my, Rukia has certainly grown up." Commented Ukitake as he observed the two.

"Ukitake-taichou." The others greeted. Shunsui and Nanao followed closely behind him.

"We should follow their example, my sweet Nanao-chan." Shunsui suggested, plucking his lips together for a kiss.

WHACK! Nanao hit him with a fan and adjusted her glasses. Sending a glare to her deflated captain.

Ichigo and Rukia broke apart and looked at each other, both red in their faces. Then Rukia glanced away and froze. Ichigo followed her line of sight.

"Ahh!" they looked frantically at their vast audience and both slopped to the floor like red jelly.

* * *

. 

"Today was such an eventful day" Hinamori sighed happily. After they had left the ball and changed into normal clothes, the couple had decided to retreat to their favourite spot on the roof to watch the last fireworks.

"It was." Hitsugaya agreed. They looked at the fireworks in silence.

"It's beautiful" Hinamori commented.

"It is." Agreed Hitsugaya. Hinamori looked at him with a smile.

"So few words, Hitsugaya."

"Yeah." He replied. She smiled then returned her gaze to the fireworks.

"I thought you…looked very beautiful today." He managed to say, his cheeks tinting pink. A large smile broke out on Hinamori's face.

"Only today?" She teased. Hitsugaya crossed his arms.

"Stop it." He ordered, a tint of embarrassment in his voice. Hinamori laughed.

* * *

**END OF CHAPTER FOURTEEN

* * *

**

Yay! Finally finished chapter 14. Sorry it was a bit long but I didn't really want to break it up more. The characters may seem a little OOC but what the hey. Hope you people enjoyed that.

**Next: Epilogue**

Yes, the next chapter is the last chapter.

Please Review. Thanks to those who do, you people rock!


	19. Epilogue

**

* * *

Epilogue

* * *

**

Thanks to all those who reviewed!

**Senkai mon –** Door leading from soul society to the living world

**Ohaiyou – **Good morning

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any part of Bleach, manga or anime.

* * *

A few months later…

"It's valentines day in a week, taichou" Matsumoto informed her captain, "what do you plan to do?"

"I don't know yet." He answered as he signed the last report and put his pen down. "Any suggestions?"

Matsumoto shrugged and then smiled slyly at him before saying "not any innocent ones", earning her a look from her captain. She ignored him and continued, "besides, I think it would mean more to her if it was a hundred percent from you."

"Urgh." He shuffled the papers and straightened them against the desk then held it out for Matsumoto. "Take this to the first division. Then you can do whatever." She took the papers then proceeded to greet Hinamori on her way out. Hitsugaya's head perked up.

Hinamori smiled at him as she walked over and sat on his desk.

"What are you doing Shiro-chan?" She asked. Hitsugaya crossed his arms.

"I just finished, and stop calling me Shiro-chan." Hinamori giggled.

"I could call you bunny bear like Rukia calls Ichigo at times." She teased but then thought for a minute, "nah, that's their thing. I could call you snow bunny." She laughed as Hitsugaya shuddered.

"On second thought, I think I'd rather be called Shiro-chan than snow bunny."

"That's right."

* * *

The next morning, Hinamori woke up in her room and sat up. She yawned and stretched then looked sleepily at the clock. Her eyes widened.

"Wha! It's so late!" She quickly got up and got changed. _Damn Hitsugaya, he adjusted my clock again. Mental note: scold Hitsugaya later._ She tied her zanpakuto to her hip then raced out of her room.

"I hope I make it to the meeting in time."

"Oi Hinamori, where are you running so fast to?" a voice interrupted her. She spun around and stomped angrily towards the caller.

"Hitsugaya! You changed my alarm again. If I don't make it to the meeting then it's all your fault!"

"Shouldn't you be going to the meeting then instead of standing here and telling me about it?" Hitsugaya smirked.

"Ah!" Seeing as nobody was around Hinamori gave Hitsugaya a quick kiss then continued running to the meeting.

Hitsugaya stared after her adoringly and chuckled to himself.

* * *

Valentines Day finally dawned and all the shinigamis cheered at the one day off. This, however, did not mean that things in Seireitai were not hectic. In fact, some may even say that it was busier then normal days. There were loud and large displays of confessions followed by escaping victims and the usual practice of giving loved ones gifts.

Hitsugaya walked through the main halls of Seireitai to get to his division and observed many strange, and not so strange, occurrences on his short trip.

As usual, Nanao would storm through the halls quickly in an attempt to escape her captain as the said captain in his pink attire would chase after her screaming without a hint of shame "Nanao-chan, my lovely, lovely Nanao-chan! Will you be my valentine?" At which Nanao would clench her fist, stop abruptly and throw a fan at her captain and successfully hit him on the head with it before resuming her escape.

What was not as usual was seeing Hisagi Shuuhei blushing furiously after having given Kurotsuchi Nemu a rather large heart shaped container filled with heart shaped chocolates. "It came like that, really." He explained, a pink shade tinting his cheeks as he scratched his head and laughed.

Hitsugaya folded his arms as he walked past them. _Hisagi and Nemu hey, gotta tell Hinamori about that._ He thought as he threw them another glance.

But what he saw next would be the strangest of the strangest event he had seen by far.

"Kenpachi-taichou. Since you fight so much, I was concerned about your health so I made some dishes for you. Make sure you eat enough to sustain that stamina of yours." Said Unohana sweetly to Kenpachi after passing him a bundle of obento boxes. Kenpachi laughed nervously and scratched his head.

"Maa, thank you, Unohana-san. How thoughtful of you." He replied, a tint of pink showing on his, Zaraki Kenpachi's, face.

Hitsugaya decided to stop staring before Zaraki sees him doing so and quickly moved past them. _Zaraki and Unohana huh, wait til I tell Hinamori about this one.

* * *

_

Hinamori slowly drifted awake to the smell of nature and sweets. She opened her eyes slowly at first and was startled awake by what she saw. There were roses and flowers everywhere in her room.

She sat up and gasped as looked around, letting out a squeal when she spotted her display shelf. There, sitting in the main middle sill was two frosted glass sculptures. One of them was a chibi Hitsugaya about to give Hinamori a large love heart, a sheepish expression played on his face as he looked away from her. The other sculpture was of a chibi Hinamori giving him a kiss on the cheek as a thank you. Together the two sculptures made a typical valentine scene.

She fell back onto the pillow and took in her surroundings. On her right was a bouquet of roses in a vase. A small card was placed just next to it. She leaned over and read it out loud.

"Ohaiyou, my _snow bunny_. :Picture of a smirking chibi Hitsugaya:

Happy Valentines Day!

Shiro-chan"

Hinamori giggled happily and promptly got out of bed.

* * *

Hitsugaya finally arrived back at his office to find his desk piled up with presents. He took a moment to mourn his usually painstakingly neat desk then moved to see who the presents from. It was mostly from his subordinates, some vice-captains, Rukia, Ichigo and one from Ayumi-chan. _Hm, none from Hinamori yet._ He thought as he picked up a random one and started unwrapping it.

"Ooo, presents!" Matsumoto exclaimed as she eyed the pile of presents on his desk. She took one out of her sleeve and placed it on the desk. "Happy V'day, taichou." She greeted offhandedly while slumping onto the couch and sighing.

"What are you doing today, Matsumoto?" He asked as he tackled the wrapping on another present.

"Nothing much, might just drown myself in sake and indulge in chocolate."

Hitsugaya snorted. "Che, what kind of plan is that. Come here, I have your present."

Matsumoto sat up and looked at her captain dubiously, "a present, for me?" She asked.

"Do you want it or not?" He asked gruffly. Matsumoto clapped and hopped up, walking over towards to him.

Hitsugaya opened his drawer and took out a piece of paper. Matsumoto stared at it incredulously.

"You gotta be kidding, you're gonna give me work?" She asked in disbelief.

"Shut up." He retorted as he gave it to her. Matsumoto snatched it and looked at it, her eyes widened.

"Tai…Taichou." She responded, touched. It was a permission slip to see Gin, signed by him and Yamamoto.

"Use this time well Matsumoto, this may be the last time that you may get to see him before the…" Hitsugaya trailed off.

"Before the execution, I know." Matsumoto continued for him sadly, "Thank you, taichou." Hitsugaya nodded in response.

"Go." Matsumoto looked at him gratefully then obeyed.

He watched her leave the room. It was all he could do really, to help her. Her and Gin's situation was already sentenced to a tragic end – she didn't deserve that kind of pain. Yet another thing Hitsugaya held against Ichimaru Gin. He sighed then resumed opening his presents.

"Shirou-chan!" exclaimed Hinamori as she skipped into the room right to him and threw her arms around him. "You are so sweet!"

Hitsugaya turned around and hugged her properly.

"Did you just wake up you sleepy head?"

"No." She kissed him on the cheek and grabbed his arm, dragging him out the door. "I've been up for a while now."

"Huh, where are we going?" He asked.

"It's a surprise."

A few moments later they reached their destination.

Hitsugaya stared in awe.

"Is this?"

"Yep! Happy Valentines Day!" she clamoured, pointing to six different dishes on the table. Hitsugaya drooled, each dish was a favourite of his.

"There's desert after!" She announced proudly.

* * *

.

Night fell. Four people stood outside the front door of the Kuchiki mansion.

"Don't return even a minute late Rukia." Ordered Byakuya, eyeing Ichigo as he spoke.

"I won't, nii-sama."

"You may go now." Rukia, Ichigo, Hitsugaya and Hinamori started to walk away.

"Ichigo." Byakuya called smoothly.

"I'll meet you guys outside" he told the rest as he walked back to Byakuya.

"If something happens to Rukia, I will hold you responsible." Byakuya warned him. Ichigo nodded.

"Don't worry Byakuya, she'll be fine."

"Be back by tomorrow afternoon." He reminded. Ichigo complied and caught up with his group. The four headed for the senkai mon.

On the way there, they saw Hisagi and Nemu running towards them.

"Hisagi-kun, Nemu-san, what are you two doing?" Ichigo asked.

"If Kurotsuchi-taichou asks can you tell him that you haven't seen either of us?" Shuuhei pleaded.

"Yeah sure." Ichigo replied.

"Thanks. Hitsugaya-taichou, Hinamori-kun, Rukia-san." He greeted, then the two took off again. The four watched the disappearing couple weirdly then resumed their journey.

* * *

"III-CHIIII-GO!" yelled Isshin.

"Oh?" He was about to do his usual routine of kicking him when he saw the other three. "Hitsugaya-taichou…" He looked at Hinamori and Rukia and let out a sound of delight. He stalked right up to them and pulled them both in a bear hug, tears streaming down his face.

"Ah! Hinamori-chan, how delightful!"

"Ano, Kurosaki-san." Hinamori coughed out as he was hugging them too hard.

"Oi! Let go of Hinamori!" demanded Hitsugaya forcefully. Isshin let go of the girls and scratched his head sheepishly.

"Sorry, sorry." He put his hands on Rukia's shoulders, "how is my beautiful daughter-in-law?"

WHACK! "Don't say things like that!" barked Ichigo, going a bit red.

"Rukia-neesan!" squealed Yuzu as she ran up to her. Karin followed slowly behind her. A blurry yellow thing sped past her and flung itself onto Rukia.

"Ne-san!" yelled Kon, tears flying out dramatically.

* * *

.

That night, after watching some movies, Hitsugaya and Hinamori retreated to the roof for some moon watching.

"It's amazing." Hinamori commented as she positioned herself to sit slightly in front of Hitsugaya, leaning comfortably into him. His arms moved autonomously around her.

"What is?" He asked, looking at her.

"That we're in a completely different world but the moon still looks the same, as with the sky."

A shimmer of white soared through the sky then disappeared as quickly as it came.

"A shooting star!" she exclaimed.

"Quick, wish for something." He told her. She smiled sweetly and closed her eyes.

"I wish we could stay like this forever." She opened her eyes and leaned on him a bit further, tilting her head up to see him. She gave him a sweet smile. Hitsugaya impulsively leaned down and captured her lips with his, marvelling at the softness and the sweet taste.

At this moment, it truly sank into him. That she was really his. In the long winding road that was their relationship, Hitsugaya had yearned, loved, lost and reunited. Now there was a clear path in front of them and he wanted to make damn sure that she was there by his side through the rest of it.

He tightened his grip around her and held her closer to him. They looked at each other for a moment.

"What's wrong?" She asked him, her features creased a little in worry.

"I love you." He admitted, his voice was so soft that it was barely audible. But she heard him.

"I love you too" She replied softly as she brought up one hand to bring his face down towards hers, their lips met again.

A few minutes later they broke apart, slightly panting for air. Hinamori returned her gaze to in front of her while Hitsugaya skimmed his lips down along her neck. The action tickled her, causing her to giggle. Hitsugaya smiled into her as he basked in her laughter. She turned her head slight towards him.

"Shiro-chan." She called gently.

"Yeah?"

"Happy Valentines day."

* * *

**THE END

* * *

**

I wasn't too sure how to end it but I hope you liked it anyway.

**I love reviews so please do so.**

The next page is just a response to reviewers. Thank you so much for following me through in this series, whether you reviewed or not. A general note to the reviewers: thanks for encouraging me through this. :touched: You people rock.


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